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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




WM SANDEL. M. D. 



ESSAYS 



ON — 






BY WM. SANDEL, M. D. 



THESE ESSAYS ARE DEDICATED TO MY 

FELLOW-MEN THROUGHOUT THE 

CIVILIZED WORLD WHO LOVE 

TRUTH, JUSTICE AND 

MERCY. 




J. G. HAUSER, 620-622 POYDRAS STREET, NEW ORLEANS. 






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|Yi^5?AHY of CONGRESS] 

Two Oooles Received 

OCT U »** 

■Cosyr'gM Entry 

GLASS /4 <^C'i Nc 

'copy b. 



COPYRIGHT, 1907 

BY 

WM. SANDEL, M. D. 
MONROE, LA. 



PREFACE. 

I feel assured that some will think the author 
of this book is irreverent; but, when they have 
read it through, they will see that their first im- 
pression was far from the truth. It is truly my 
reverence for the Author of the Universe and 
my being that prompts me to write. From my 
childhood I have been a skeptic. My mother 
was a devoted churchwoman, with a strong 
sense of religious responsibility resting on her 
as to the manner of educating her children, so 
as to impress them with her religious faith. She 
firmly believed the Bible to be the word of God 
from beginning to ending. 'She knew exactly the 
number of chapters to read every Sunday, so as 
to read it through in a year. I being the oldest, 
after each reading she questioned me about what 
we had just read. One morning we read the 
story of Lazarus, Dives, and Abraham. After 
being interrogated on the subject, I asked her 
who was there to hear what was said on this 
occasion. My father looked up from his paper, 
and said to my mother: "You had best let that 
boy alone; he is beginning to think." I have 
been thinking all the while since. I have read 



PEERAGE. 



quite a number of books by the greatest 
philosophers the world has produced, ancient 
and modern. I find that they were skeptical. 
I notice they improved civilization and progress 
by the study of natural law. They all favored 
free universal education. I have carefully in- 
vestigated the Old and New Testaments, and 
from beginning to end I found nothing of the 
science of mathematics, of astronomy, or chem- 
istry, of physiology, of philosophy, that has been 
of much benefit to the progress and civilization 
of the human race. I found the Bible filled 
with crimes too horrible for a civilized mind to 
conceive of. I do not believe them to be true, 
and am grateful to God for giving me reason 
not to believe. I have given those reasons for 
my doubt, in this book, to the best of my abil- 
ity. I found enough, and more, too, to 
strengthen my disbelief, and to relieve my sym- 
pathetieal feelings, while reading of the suffer- 
ing of whole nations with famine, pestilence, 
and the most indiscriminate and cruel murder. 
I believe the whole of the Old Testament to 
be written at least eight hundred years after 
what is written was said to have occurred. I 
think it is founded on fables and traditions, 
and written by writers with hyperbolical im- 
aginations, and who were both visionary and 
given to exaggeration. I do not pretend to ask 



PKEFACE. 5 

others to believe as I do. I only ask that they 
read for themselves as I have, with the belief 
that God alone gives reason to man, and by the 
exercise of their God-endowed minds they will 
be convinced that what they read is false. I am 
sure they, like me, will find evidence enough in 
the books themselves to prove them the fabrica- 
tion of a very wicked mind, both visionary and 
exaggerative. To believe these fables to be the 
word of God would destroy at once the magna- 
nimity of the all-wise and benevolent Creator, 
making him a malicious, revengeful tyrant, de- 
void of justice or mercy. I feel it is a sacrilege 
to entertain such an absurd idea for a single 
moment. After reading the New Testament, I 
found the writers trying to establish a founda- 
tion for its being the word of God on the so- 
called prophecies of the Old. I endeavor to 
show, from the books themselves, those predic- 
tions of the so-called prophets are false. I find 
the whole of the four books of Matthew, Mark, 
Luke, and John made up with anecdotes of what 
Christ said, and what others said to Christ, with 
a lot of miracles that no two of them relate in 
the same way, and, if found in any other book, 
would neither be probable nor at all interest- 
ing, because they are too improbable for belief. 
Christ was quite a disappointment to most of 
the people. They looked for a great king, with 



PREFACE. 



a crown and a drawn sword, to rule the world 
forever. They, instead, found him to be a sim- 
ple man in appearance. But he felt he had a 
soul in him, given by God at his birth. Leaving 
alone the many miraculous stories of him, for 
they only confuse the mind, and lead it from 
the true mission that Christ took upon himself — 
to teach men the true system of morality and 
civilization— he never once pretended to be in- 
finite or divine. He looked upon God as the 
father of all creation. The system of morality 
taught by him has never been improved on by 
our greatest philosophers up to this time. I be- 
lieve that Christ was really the savior of the 
world, not by any prescribed salvation or re- 
demption, but he held out to mankind the first 
beacon-light of true civilization that the world 
ever saw. Christ never made any revenue laws, 
such as selling salvation, redemption, indul- 
gences, pardon of sins, for money. Christ, while 
living, was an exa pie for a true, God-loving, 
and God- trusting Deist. He never threatened 
anyone with everlasting torment for his religions 
belief. He taught brotherly love, justice, and 
mercy. The real objects of Christ's teachings 
have been perverted by the founders of the 
Church, and interpolated with revenue laws for 
the benefit of priests. Christ did not come with 
a sword to advance his system of morality or re- 



PREFACE. 



ligion; but, as soon as the Church obtained 
power, it used the sword, persecution, and the 
rack of torture, the crudest of all the Church's 
inquisitions, to enforce its idea of Christ, and 
salvation and redemption— two of the greatest 
curses to mankind. That was foreign to the na- 
ture and teachings of Christ. I think that, if it 
were possible for Christ to return to earth to- 
day, he would not recognize what is taught as 
the Christian religion. . 

The Church founders, forgetting the true ob- 
ject of Christ's mission, went to work invent- 
ing creeds. In their creeds they are all pro- 
fessed believers in the doctrines taught by 
Christ, but never follow his example either in 
living or practice. It was too simple— only to 
love each other and be just. They wanted a 
more complicated and more difficult method to 
commune with God. They have shut God up in 
the four walls of their different churches. Some 
of them substitute Christ and the Holy Ghost for 
God, to be communicated with only through the 
medium of the priest. The ancient mythologists 
had a number of gods. The Church mythologists 
have three, which they claim to embody in one, 
but they have innumerable saints to act as guar- 
dian angels. Creeds, superstition, credulity, and 
mystery are their main support, aided by the 
numerous revenue laws. As I do not believe 



8 PKEFACE. 

that the salvation of my immortal soul, given to 
me at my birth, can be bought of a priest, I will 
proudly hold to the right I have to believe God 
has given to all the power to be just and kind 
and trust the salvation of their souls to Him. 

It is impossible to even surmise when the idea 
of a soul in man had its origin. I hope every 
man, or woman, who lives to maturity, will not 
dread to think that, after this life, he, or she, 
will die and pass into nothingness. We feel 
that God has provided everyone with an im- 
mortal soul at birth. By the natural law, our 
bodies perish, and return to the elements of 
which they are composed. But the soul does 
not die, but returns to God, who intended that 
there shall be no immortality except through the 
soul. All of our wisest philosophers believe this, 
and it helps us to look forward to the end of our 
lives without dread, and feel that we will have 
a consciousness in a better life evermore. Feel- 
ing this assurance, need we trouble our minds 
as to what form our souls shall take or where 
they shall exist? Trust this to God, who is the 
author of all forms and places, and let us not 
worry our minds with things that are unknow- 
able. I here give my own creed, transposed to 
verse : 



PREFACE. 



When there are so many gods, and so many 
creeds, 

And so many ways that wind and wind, 
When all that this life needs 

Is to be just and kind. 



10 ON PHILOSOPHY AND COMMON-SENSE. 

ON PHILOSOPHY AND COMMON-SENSE. 

There is in the world of reason but one real 
work for science, and that is to produce and 
prove truth. Common-sense always gravitates 
to truth and ratifies it. Truth, once estab- 
lished, is permanent. Philosophy treats of ma- 
terial things from experience, and analyzes 
them. Philosophers call to their aid all the sci- 
ences, but more especially chemistry, aided by 
the senses and experience of things. Things 
that are transcendental, philosophy fails to 
prove to the satisfaction of common reason. To 
establish the truth of the existence of a Supreme 
Being, or Creator of the World, is impossible. 
To attempt to solve this wonderful problem by 
scientific research is worse than useless, yet we 
know intuitively that there was necessarily an 
Infinite Being before anything could exist. How 
and why do we accept this as an undoubted fact ? 
I am satisfied of it in my own mind because it 
does not admit of argument, for God is above 
nature, above the world, and is beyond reason, 
yet he is a necessity, for we know the world is 
a fact, we know our being is a fact, and we 
know there must have been some incomprehensi- 
ble pre-existent power. My conscience and my 
reason intuitively accept the fact of Deity, and 
I am satisfied without further proof. We know 



ON PHILOSOPHY AND COMMON-SENSE. 11 

another fact ; that is, if philosophy cannot prove 
the existence of God, it is impossible to disprove 
his existence. I notice that all the great 
philosophers, both ancient and modern, worthy 
of mention, accept the existence of Deity as an 
established, necessary fact. Theologians attempt 
to prove the existence of God by the so-called 
science of psychology. I boldly acknowledge 
that common reason causes me to be a confirmed 
philanthropist ; but, if psychology was the only 
means to convince me of the existence of the 
true Deity, I would necessarily be a confirmed 
atheist, for the so-called science of psychology 
treats of ghosts, the existence of which in the 
world they attempt to establish by another so- 
called science of metaphysics, neither of which 
has any rational foundation. In truth, all their 
attempted reasoning vanishes into myth and 
mystery when common reason is applied to its 
teachings. Ghosts and spirits may do for the 
ancient mythologist or the modern spiritualist, 
but they are only looked on by the philosopher 
as fabrications or delusions created by supersti- 
tion and ignorance. God is real, though beyond 
the comprehension of the mind of man. The 
theologian's theory of spirits is non-existent and 
is beyond proof, and can only exist in the mind 
of a visionary theologian, whose reasoning is 
weak and without foundation. Saints are rapidly 



12 ON PHILOSOPHY AND COMMON-SENSE. 

being recognized by the enlightened world as 
frauds, not worthy of mention. 

There are two other things in nature that are 
beyond the comprehension of science or common- 
sense, yet they are perceptible to the senses. One 
is time, the other is space. It is impossible for 
the mind to conceive when time first began, or 
when there will be no time. Neither can we con- 
template the extent of space. Space can be 
calculated to a fraction of a cubic inch or less, 
if necessary, in any material thing, no matter 
what shape, by the science of mathematics; but, 
when we look up at that bine ethereal dome, that 
canopy of the globe, which gives room for the 
untold stars to revolve like a million tops spin- 
ning around in a circle, like a horse goes in a 
mill, the mind feels its weakness, and the 
thinker stands in awe of the omniscience of 
God, who alone knows. This, too, we realize as 
proof of the existence of Deity, who is above 
and beyond nature. 

I leave a subject that I consider presumption 
in anyone to attempt by any reasoning, whether 
scientific or merely rational, to explain. "We 
feel a truth, as I before stated, intuitively, and 
it is only understood by the infinite, incompre- 
hensible God of the unbounded universe. 

I will take the subject of intellectual culture. 
In my opinion, it has been proven by observa- 



ON PHILOSOPHY AND COMMON-SENSE. 13 

tion that the mind of a child should only be 
taxed with things perceptible in nature by the 
natural senses. This is taught by experience. 
Experience is the foundation of natural philos- 
ophy. Learning consists in the understanding 
of the laws of nature as to existing things that 
we come in contact with. It is only the devel- 
oped mind that is capable, by scientific experi- 
ment and research, to develop truth out of 
theory. To put books in the hands of a child, 
whose mind is not developed so as to compre- 
hend what they treat of, is rationally wrong, 
and does harm instead of good. No teacher 
should allow it; yet, in the graded public 
schools, children are taken at the age of five or 
six years, and taught steadily ten years by a 
graded method, advanced yearly from grade to 
grade. They are taught by a fixed, set method, 
including music, drawing, and other things not 
required by universities. "When they graduate 
after all this time, their education is superficial, 
and few of them can enter the freshman class 
in a university, for much time is lost with what 
does not pertain to real learning. A pupil that 
can only read and write at the age of twelve 
years, if placed with a good instructor, will in 
four years be prepared to enter college, and be 
thorough in all the studies required. A skillful 
teacher is he who gains the attention of the 



14= ON PHILOSOPHY AND COMMON-SENSE. 

scholar as well as his affection and respect, and 
such a one will not meet with obstinacy in any 
scholar who has the proper pride. Pride should 
be encouraged, so as to develop in the pupil prin- 
ciples of virtue and admiration for what is ex- 
cellent and praiseworthy. Calling their at- 
tention to men of honor is more effectual and 
makes more impression than any other method, 
and leads a boy to imitate whatever is excellent 
and worthy. As soon as a pupil has reason of 
his own to guide him, rough usage by his 
teacher only causes ill-nature and perverseness, 
and aversion for his instructor. Corporal pun- 
ishment, in my opinion, should never be re- 
sorted to by a teacher. It is what no proud, 
manly boy will submit to. To beat the body is 
to debase the mind. Nothing so soon abolishes 
the sense of shame as the use of the rod, and 
that sense of shame is the best preservative of 
virtue and the greatest incentive to excellence. 
Hence, corporal punishment only breaks down 
the noble independence of the soul. The only 
office of the teacher should be to inform the 
mind, and not to break or weaken the spirit. 
The most valuable part of education is acquired 
after the student is done with schools— "by ob- 
servation, experience, and the study of human 
nature. 



ON PHILOSOPHY AND COMMON-SENSE. 15 

To illustrate: Take two men, sound in body 
and mind, equal as to ability in reading and 
writing their own language. One is college- 
bred, the other is not. They differ only, 
through life, as two diamonds of equal value — 
one is polished, and the other is not. 

The foundation for later and true learning is 
obtained at school. The study of nature is 
what real learning consists of— to observe, to 
associate with learned men, to travel, to asso- 
ciate with refined and educated ladies, to ex- 
periment with and practically investigate the 
facts of nature. 

Learning to speak other languages is what is 
required for what may be called all-around, 
thoroughly-educated persons, who will prove 
equal to all occasions, and grace any society, 
with honor to themselves and pleasure to others, 
and render them competent to fill any office. 
Such an education is the greatest blessing that 
can be obtained in this life, for it fits one to en- 
joy life in all its different phases, intellectually 
and socially. 



16 INSTINCT. 



INSTINCT. 

The atheist, who pretends to doubt the ex- 
istence of God, has only to bring his mind to 
bear on the instinct that God has endowed all 
animated nature with, and he can doubt no 
longer. 

He will here find unanswerable the truths of 
the laws of nature and the wonderful provi- 
dence and blessings that could come only 
through the power of our All- Wise Creator. 

His honest thoughts will bring him nearer to 
God than he has ever been. He will see that God 
is generous; that God is considerate of all his 
creation ; that all is provided for most liberally. 
He will see that God is not partial, but deals 
with all in the same benevolent way, and that 
the unbeliever enjoys the same blessings with 
the most devout. He will see that God has 
made man superior to all animated nature by 
giving to him reason, by which he can learn 
nature and provide for himself, and enjoy the 
blessinsrs that are placed within his reach. Thus 
he will see that this world is given to us ready- 
made, and he is a free ajrent to enjoy it, and, 
therefore, will doubt no more. 

He can but observe the systematic arrange- 
ment in the economy of nature's laws— that 
nothing is lost, or can be destroyed. Even in 



INSTINCT. 17 



decay they only return to the elements of which 
they were composed. Chemically the animal 
elements are taken up by the vegetable, and, in 
return, they are consumed and nourish the ani- 
mal. They both depend on each other for ex- 
istence. Remove one, and the other is conse- 
quently destroyed. Remove from the world 
either water, ammonia, or carbonic-acid gas, and 
all life, both animal and vegetable, necessarily 
ceases. God has provided that the animal shall, 
at every breath, give off carbonic-acid gas. The 
vegetable takes it up, and gives off oxygen. 
Nitrogen is given off from ammonia, which is 
produced from the decomposition of animal mat- 
ter. Animals, birds, and insects depend almost 
entirely on instinct for their self-preservation. 
They are endowed with but little reasoning 
power. 

Instinct is that wonderful, mysterious power 
donated by God to all his created, living 
creatures. As soon as they breathe air into their 
bodies, and as soon as they are separated by 
birth from the mother, the young of all mam- 
malia, except man, will go directly to her nip- 
ple for the nourishment necessary to support 
their external life. The babe has only instinct 
to suck anything thrust into its mouth. The in- 
sect, as soon as it leaves the chrysalis, seeks its 
mate; then deposits its eggs where most favor- 



18 INSTINCT. 



able for germinating. The wonderful instinct 
of the homing pigeon, when taken far from its 
native place and set free, will cause it to ascend 
high into the air, whence, after circling around, 
it will take its unerring course to its home, no 
matter how far distant. The bee has seemingly 
the instinct of the architect in constructing its 
cells for storing its honey, and to economize 
space. The bird builds its first nest the same 
as the mother-bird did. The dirt-dauber builds 
its nest, deposits its eggs, and with them food 
for the expected grubs, and seals them up se- 
curely. To see this every day of our lives, we 
can but reason that there is a cause, and that 
cause is what we call ' ' God. ' ' Instinct, then, is 
the spontaneous action of all forms of animate 
nature to preserve life and to propagate their 
species. They know by the operation of the 
law of their individual instinct that God has in 
his providence provided all that is necessary for 
their propagation and preservation. Man has 
less than all other animals. "When reason be- 
gins, instinct diminishes. God has opened to 
man his orreat and universal book of nature, and 
has given to him reason with which to learn; 
hence, the progress that man has achieved has 
been by the study and learning of natural laws. 
The same elements in creation were here in the 
beginning of animal and vegetable life as now, 



INSTINCT. 19 



but man was slow to understand their nature. 
The most rapid strides have been made by sci- 
ence during the last century, and man, in that 
period, has accomplished more than for thou- 
sands of years previous. By the study and mas- 
tering of nature's laws, man can realize the 
many blessings and enjoy them. The more he 
Learns, the nearer he is in touch with his 
Creator. Scientists do not doubt, but feel the 
spirit of God within themselves. 



20 ON HOPE. 



ON HOPE. 

This is the great dividing line between man- 
kind and the Creator. Hope and desire are 
emotions very similar in human nature. We 
first desire a thing or condition, and direct our 
efforts in the hope that we can obtain the ob- 
ject desired. Hope varies according to the age 
of the person. The babe, as soon as the mind 
is developed sufficiently to desire, expresses its 
hope to be taken to the mother's breast. "When 
older, its hope is to possess the toys of its fancy, 
as desire prompts. The boy's greatest hope is 
to possess a gun, bicycle, or pony. The young 
man hopes for the time when he will be with 
his lady-love. The ambitious man hopes for 
wealth, power, fame, political popularity, and 
notoriety. The very aged man ceases to hope 
for further achievements in this life. He lives 
in thoughts of the past and the care for his 
children and others that are dear to him, and in 
hopes for their welfare in the future. For him- 
self, he no longer enjoys the many pleasures of 
life as formerly. His thoughts change, and he 
naturally turns his mind to the hope for happi- 
ness after this life. The desire for immortality 
and future welfare is founded only on the hope 
that there is a spiritual existence after this life. 
Reasoning from everything that has been ad- 



ON HOPE. 21 



vanced by the minds of the most scientific 
philosophers in the world, he finds no positive 
evidence of existence after this life. He can 
only hope the accepted theory of a place for de- 
parted spirits is trne. His reason tells hiin, be- 
yond a possible doubt, that after death his body 
passes to nothingness after a given time— there 
is not an atom of it left— yet hope is anchored 
in his mind, as long as life lasts, that he is pos- 
sessed with an immortal soul. This hope in im- 
mortality is the foundation for all religious 
creeds fabricated by man. The ancient mythol- 
ogists had a number of gods. The priests blend 
hope with faith in such a manner that it is 
difficult to separate the meaning from a religious 
idea. This faith is taught and instilled in the 
child as divine truth as soon as it is capable of 
being taught anything. 

Faith and hope, according to the theologian, 
is a complete and unreserved surrender of the 
mind, so that one can accept the Bible as the 
true revelation of God to man, giving him free 
consent to accept and acknowledge it as the truth 
and the word of God. On this faith his only 
hope for his soul's salvation depends. To doubt 
is sacrilegious, and the one who doubts is ex- 
communicated and forever damned and cast 
into eternal torment. 'Some of the most brilliant 
men, since the time of Shakespeare to the pres- 



22 ON HOPE. 



ent time, did not, and do not, believe the Bible 
to be true, or any part of it the revelation of 
God to man. Since the advent of Jesus Christ 
and his founding the Christian religion, the 
priests and preachers of the different Christian 
denominations have usurped the authority of 
declaring that the salvation of souls can only 
be obtained through what they are pleased to 
call the blood of Christ. This idea of salvation 
has been the cause of more trouble and blood- 
shed to the human race than all other differences 
put together. The religious wars during cen- 
turies of the past are well-known historical 
facts. What is known as the "Inquisition," of 
Spain and other countries where the Pope had 
the power, tortured people in the most inhu- 
man way, with instruments made for the pur- 
pose, to be used by the priests to compel belief 
in their method of salvation. Faith and hope 
then are blended, and are a consequence of edu- 
cation and fear — education, when the delusion is 
willingly accepted; fear, when we dare not ex- 
press what reason dictates. "When I was in 
Home I visited the national museum, and asked 
the guide to let me see the rack and other in- 
struments invented by the priests which were 
used during the Inquisition, for the love of God, 
to compel belief in their mode of salvation. I 
was told that every year, on a certain day, the 



ON HOPE. 23 



Pope had petitioned the King of Italy to have 
them placed out of sight. The king for a long 
time refused, but, at last, granted the petition. 
I was told, by applying for special permit, I 
could, by paying a small fee, be allowed to see 
them. As I had seen drawings of them, I did 
not care to take the trouble. His Holiness the 
Pope did not wish the visitors to be reminded by 
ocular demonstration of the torture to which 
persons were subjected to compel them to ac- 
cept salvation. 

These popes and priests, too, claimed to repre- 
sent, and were agents to carry on, the beautiful 
moral system of religion founded by Christ, who 
preached the Sermon on the Mount. The great- 
est sin, in my opinion, asrainst our merciful 
Father and Creator, is wanton cruelty, and yet, 
when practicing it, the priests claimed to be act- 
ing in the name of Christ. When their victims 
were about to expire, these miserable fiends 
would hold that emblem of Roman cruelty — a 
miniature cross— to their lips. 

These followers of Christ were devoid of all 
mercy, humanity, kindness, or morality— yet for 
centuries they were allowed, by the deluded 
rulers of nations, to practice their cruel methods 
of salvation, ostensibly for the love of Christ, 
but in reality for the love of power and gold. 
History shows that the priests who claimed to 



24 ON HOPE. 



be followers of Christ were demons, and the only- 
true Christians were simple deists whose only- 
hope for salvation was trust in the love and 
mercy of God. Man is taught, by the example 
God gives him, to be just, merciful, and kind 
to all others, and how he should be honest with 
everyone else in his dealings through life. 



ON SATAN, OR DEVIL. 



ON SATAN, OR DEVIL. 

The Christian mythologists say the devil is a 
fallen angel, who rebelled in heaven, was de- 
feated and cast into a pit. The next account 
given of him was in the (harden of Eden, when 
he became a talking snake, and he persuaded 
Eve to eat of an apple, for which all mankind 
was damned. After reading this fable, it 
seems that Satan triumphed over God, and ob- 
tained control of the whole world. He has a 
power as great as the Almighty. He is omni- 
present, and capable of dealing with infinite 
power and getting control of creation. This ac- 
count makes God surrender to the sovereignty 
of this devil the government and control of the 
world. 

They go on and say that God so loved the 
world that to redeem it he sent his only-begotten 
Son (meaning Jesus Christ), said to have been 
born of a virgin begotten by a ghost for the 
purpose of afterwards being crucified on a Ro- 
man cross to redeem the world from the control 
of the devil. The Church has never allowed 
the devil to return to the pit. After the re- 
demption by God dying on the cross, they claim 
Christ to be divine, but allow the devil to roam 
at large and continue by strategy to defeat God. 
The story of this fable throughout makes the 



26 ON SATAN, OB DEVIL. 

devil triumphant in every case where he and 
God disagree, as in the matter of Job, when they 
met and discussed the merits of Job as to pa- 
tience by afflicting him cruelly in various ways, 
such as destroying his children, taking away all 
his property, and covering his body with painful 
boils. One of the most ridiculous parts of the. 
fable is where Satan flew off with Christ to the 
mountain and to the top of a high steeple in or- 
der to tempt him. It is related that his iSatanic 
Majesty offered Christ all he could behold from 
these high places— in fact, the whole world— if 
he would worship him. The idea of the devil 
offering the world to the creator of that world, 
as well as to the creator of the devil himself, is 
absurd. The story does not say what shape 
Satan assumed when he flew off with Christ. 
He, being the all-powerful devil, probably 
wafted himself through space without wings, as 
Asmodeus, the demon, did with Faust. We find 
this devil getting into the herd of swine, and it 
is stated that Christ cast seven devils out of 
Mary Magdalene. The Church seems to have 
bribed Satan to remain on earth. They prom- 
ised him all the Jews, all the Mohammedans, all 
the Confucians, all the Buddhists, and nine- 
tenths of the balance of mankind, only reserving 
the few that professed their particular faith. 
The Roman Catholics gave him all the Protes- 



ON SATAN, OR DEVIL. 27 

tants, and all that did not confess and pay trib- 
ute to the Church, or bought absolution and ex- 
treme unction from the priests. The different 
Protestant sects gave him all the Roman Cath- 
olics and all other Christian denominations that 
did not conform to their particular persuasion. 
As to salvation, we know there are a great 
number of men and women who live very good 
lives notwithstanding their belief in these va- 
rious fallacious and superstitious church doc- 
trines. Now, if these good people are cast into 
the devil's hell-fire because of a slight differ- 
ence of opinion as to whether immersion, 
sprinkling, or the application of holy water, is 
the proper and accepted mode of baptism, what 
will heaven be populated with ? The priests and 
preachers of all the different Christian sects? 
Visit our prisons where murderers are confined 
awaiting execution. Pray with them, and (as 
it is called) convert them. Give them extreme 
unction; hold that cherished emblem of Roman 
cruelty— the cross— to their lips, and console 
them with the belief that they are saved and 
will be received by Christ, who died to save 
sinners, no matter how heinous and inhuman the 
crime for which they are to be executed. But 
the poor victim, who was murdered without the 
benefit of priest or other clergy, stands no 
chance of salvation or heaven. He is suddenly 



28 ON SATAN, OR DEVIL. 

slain, probably without cause, or injury to the 
murderer. This may be Church justice, but it 
seems to me they send the wrong man to heaven, 
and, in this way, heaven will have more mur- 
derers than Christians of any particular sect. 
Again, this erroneous Church and devil theory 
and teaching, that God is a malicious, revenge- 
ful demon— this gloomy idea of religious life — 
is the exciting cause of insanity. It is a well- 
known fact, from statistics taken in insane asy- 
lums, that there are more persons insane from 
religious mania than all other causes together, 
including disease; and the same may truthfully 
be said of suicides. This cannot be wondered 
at when we think that almost all the pleasures 
of life, such as attending theatres, dancing, par- 
ties, ball games, and other so-called worldly 
amusements, are forbidden by the preachers, 
who think that God frowns when such pleasures 
are indulged in. 

The Church cannot well get on without Satan. 
The priests could not have any good reason for 
the so-called patron saints, of which they have 
many to protect the devout from this devil. They 
only have to call on their saint and make the 
sign of the Koman cross, and no evil spirit or 
devil can harm them. The priests are very ac- 
commodating with their holy water and absolu- 
tion to keep off the devil when paid to do so. 



ON SATAN, OE DEVIL. 29 

I suppose, after confession, and being absolved 
and pardoned, the deluded persons must feel 
consoled and extremely happy to think they are 
free from all fear of the devil or the malicious 
and revengeful god whom they are taught to 
fear, not to love. Such ideas of God and the 
devil bestialize men and cause them to have con- 
tempt for God, and place their faith and love 
in their priest. They only think of God with 
fear, and obey the so-called commandments of 
God as prescribed or dictated by the priest. God 
to them is altogether a secondary consideration. 
If he is angry, the priest will intercede, and 
they are forgiven when the priest is paid. 

This much for the devil. I hope the time is 
not far distant when people will assert the right 
of thinking for themselves, and reason will 
soon reduce this Satan, or devil, to an imaginary 
ghost, that does not, and never did, exist, except 
in the minds of priests, the superstitious and 
the ignorant, and that God is love, justice, and 
mercy, in place of the fearful demon that they 
have and are being taught to fear, instead of 
love for his immeasurable goodness to his 
created creatures in the whole world. 



30 THE BIBLE. 



THE BIBLE. 
In the following essays I will go through the 
books of the Bible, commencing with Genesis. 
I will open this book for the purpose of study 
and investigation. I will have to quote a num- 
ber of statements I find in the book, but will 
always give the chapter and verse, so that any- 
one can turn to it and see if I quote it correctly. 
I have for a long time had my doubts that God, 
who is the creator of the universe, and whom 
I adore and love for justice, love, and mercy, 
could have had anything to do with the writing 
of such a compilation as I find the Bible to be. 
The idea of calling it the word of God horrifies 
the mind of any reasonable and just man. When 
I read the stories of debaucheries and execu- 
tions, accounts of malicious and revengeful as- 
sassinations of whole nations — men, women, and 
children— and even of disgusting obscenities, I 
feel like calling it the word of a devil, instead 
of a generous, loving, and merciful God. God's 
revelation to man is his creation and the study 
of natural law. By scientific investigation he 
will learn all that is necessary for his comfort. 
The laws of the creation are eternal and un- 
changeable. They are the foundation of all 
science and are bound to be of divine origin. 
Scientists \ in learning the everlasting truths of 
nature, learn the only words of God to man. 



GENESIS, 31 



GENESIS. 

This book is ascribed to Moses ; why, we do 
not know. It evidently treats of things said to 
have occurred hundreds of years after Moses 
died. It starts out by describing the making 
of the world. I will not quote the whole of this 
absurd, harmless story, but only a few verses, 
to show how ridiculous it is. 

Verse 3: "And God said let there be light, 
and there was light." 

Verse 4: "And God divided the light from 
the darkness." 

Verse 5: "And the evening and the morn- 
ing were the first day." 

Verse 8: "And God called the firmament 
■ heaven,' and the evening and the morning 
were the second day." 

Verse 13: "And the evening and morning 
were the third day." 

Verse 15 : " And God made two great lights, 
the greater light to rule .the day, and the lesser 
light to rule the night; and he made the stars 
also." 

Now, for anyone to believe such nonsensical 
stuff as this to be the word of God, he would 
have first to set aside reason and look on* God 
with contempt. Here are four days and four 
nights before the sun, moon, and stars were put 



32 GENESIS. 



in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon 
the earth. (Verse 17.) At the beginning of 
these verses are the words "God said," etc. 
Now, to whom, in the name of common sense, 
was God saying all this? Up to this time there 
was no living creature created. 'Surely, Moses 
could not have been there. This fabricated 
story of the creation is addressed to no one, 
and why it is ascribed to Moses it is impossible 
to say. I will not dwell long on this silly story, 
but cannot refrain from noticing the manner in 
which this inspired writer creates man, and how 
he has him dealt with afterwards. Chapter II., 
verse 7: "And God formed man of the dust of 
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life; and man became a living soul." 
Verse 8: "And the Lord God planted a garden 
eastward in Eden, and there he put the man 
whom he had formed. ' ' Verse 10 : " And a river 
went out of Eden to water the garden, and from 
thence it was parted into four heads." Verse 
16: "And the Lord commanded the man, say- 
ing, 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest 
freely eat' " Verse 17 : " 'But of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat 
of it, for, in the day that thou eatest thereof, 
thou shalt surely die.' " Verse 20: "And Adam 
gave names to all cattle, and to the fowls of the 
air, and to every beast of the field, but for 



GENESIS, 33 

Adam there was not found an helpmate for 
him." Notice, here, that Adam named all the 
animals, fowls, etc. "Who named him? He is 
just abruptly called "Adam." Verse 19: "And 
brought them into Adam to see what he would 
call them." 

This childish story reads as if God had a 
curiosity about the names. The writer does not 
seem to know he had quite a task before him. 

Verse 21 : "And the Lord caused a deep sleep 
to fall on Adam, and he slept, and He took one 
of his ribs and closed up the flesh thereof." I 
will diverge here to state that there are the same 
number of ribs on each side of man, and that 
woman has the same number as man, yet this 
strange story says that God closed up the flesh 
instead thereof. Chapter 2, verse 22: "And out 
of the rib which the Lord had taken from man 
made he a woman, and brought her unto the 
man." Verse 23: "And Adam said, 'This is 
now bone, of my bone, and flesh of my flesh. ' ' ' 
I notice at the top of the page, in the copy I 
have before me, the words "Marriage insti- 
tuted." I suppose the Church is responsible 
for this, as they claim the sole right of solemn- 
izing marriage, and they also insist that all who 
live together as man and wife without the cere- 
mony and blessing of the Church are living in 



84 GENESIS. 



adultery and their children are bastards. (How 
about the Ghost and Mary?) 

We come now to the talking snake, said by 
the Church to be the devil in the shape of a 
serpent, and claimed by the Bible writer to be 
very wise. (However, they seem stupid creatures 
to us.) This serpent had a conversation with 
the woman. Chapter 3, verse 1: "And he said 
unto the woman, 'Yea, hath God said ye shall 
not eat of every tree of the garden.' " Chap- 
ter 3, verse 3: The woman answers: "But of 
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the 
garden, God hath said, 'Ye shall not eat of it, 
neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' " Chapter 
3, verse 4: "And the serpent said unto the 
woman, 'Ye shall not surely die.' " Here this 
snake accuses God of lying and deceiving the 
woman, and strange to say, according to this 
silly story, as will be seen by reading on in the 
Bible, they did not die after eating the fruit, 
which is said to have been an apple, till they 
died as we all die. 

These Bible writers are most inconsistent. We 
are told by them that God is infinite, all wise, 
even knowing the number of hairs on everyone's 
head; in fact, everything. Chapter 3, verse 9: 
"And the Lord called unto Adam, and said 
unto him, 'Where art thou?' Adam answered 
[verse 10], and said, 'I heard thy voice in the 



GENESIS. 35 

garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, 
and I hid myself/ " 

This story continues to be as silly and ridicu- 
lous throughout as the few verses I have quoted. 
But the sequel is more so, as it claims that the 
devil triumphed over God in the matter of the 
woman, and God, becoming very angry for the 
small offense of a man and a woman eating an 
apple, drove them out of the garden and sur- 
rendered the whole world to this devil, to be 
afterwards redeemed by sending his only-begot- 
ten Son to shed his blood and die, according to 
the Roman method of execution, on a cross. He 
failed here, also, if the Church teaching be true. 
God only effected a very poor compromise. The 
Christian priests and preachers of the Word, as 
they are in the habit of calling the Bible, give 
the devil all the Jews, all the Confucians, all 
the Mohammedans, and at least ninety-nine one- 
hundredths of creation, for each sect claims its 
method of salvation will only answer with God. 
The belief in this foolish, badly-composed story 
of the devil being greater than God has caused 
thousands of religious wars, which have con- 
tinued to the present time, and will continue till 
persons can have the independence to think and 
reason for themselves. I say, up to the present 
time. Just think of what is now going on in 
Russia with the Jews, and a short time since 



36 GENESIS. 



with the Turks and the poor Armenians. His- 
tory is filled with religious persecution from 
the time the seventy men got together. Who 
they were, or where they came from, is not 
known, nor is it material. They voted that 
what collections they had got together should 
be considered for all ages the word of God. 
From that time on to the present the priests and 
preachers have insinuated themselves into poli- 
tics, marrying, as it were, the church and state 
in all the kingdoms, empires and monarchies of 
the world that would allow them a foothold 
within their boundaries. They then divided into 
factions, and each faction understood this word 
of God that had been voted for in a different 
sense from all the others. They soon converted 
the beautiful system of morality and simple re- 
ligion of Christ into pomp, avarice, and extor- 
tion. As soon as they gained power, they, in 
the name of the Church of Christ, gained or 
usurped the control of the rulers. For them to 
denounce a ruler was to endanger not only his 
government, but his life and liberty. Instead 
of the teachings of Christ— to love one another— 
they created strife, hatred, and murder among 
men who had slightly different opinions re- 
garding the plan of redemption they say Christ 
died for. Europe was a land of slaughter, 
rapine, murder, and faggot for centuries because 



GENESIS, 37 

of this salvation and redemption. A king, 
queen, or other ruler of a nation, who did not 
sustain the Church, was looked upon by the 
priest-ridden, credulous subjects as a tyrant and 
monster, not fit to live. Consequently, these 
sovereigns had to help the priests and keep in 
touch with them by aiding them to oppress and 
extort money from their subjects in order to 
reign in security. 

I so detest the wickedness of the priests that 
I was carried off from the Book of Genesis, to 
which I return. I do not wish to make this 
essay long by repeating these foolish chapters. 
I will only state the subjects of each. The 
fourth chapter treats of the birth of Cain and 
Abel, and the murder of Abel. The fifth chap- 
ter treats of the genealogy and death of the 
patriarchs from Adam to Noah. Verse 24 gives 
an account of the translation of Enoch: "And 
Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for 
God took him." The sixth chapter gives an ac- 
count of God becoming provoked at the wicked- 
ness of the world, which caused the Flood. The 
seventh chapter gives a description of the Flood. 
Noah and family, including all living creatures, 
enter the Ark. I make the comment that, owing 
to the poor ventilation the Ark had, all its in- 
habitants would have been killed by the car- 
bonic-acid gas given off from their lungs. The 



38 GENESIS. 



writers of this story did not think of this, or 
they did not know of carbonic-acid gas. They 
were not versed in the science of chemistry. 
(God did, however.) Chapter 8: Noah leaves 
the Ark after it landed on Mount Ararat. Chap- 
ter 9 : God blesses Noah and forbids bloodshed 
and murder, etc. Also, a silly story of Noah 
being drunk and his person exposed, etc. 

Chapter 10 is a tiresome account, indecently 
and poorly told, of the generations of Noah. 
Chapter 11 tells of the building of the Tower 
of Babel, and the confusion of tongues, with 
an account of the generation of Shem and Tirah. 
Chapter 12 is peculiar and unsatisfactory. In 
the notation at the beginning of the chapter the 
copy of the Bible I have says God called Abram 
and blessed him with a promise of Christ. I 
have read the chapter through, and find noth- 
ing of Christ. The most of the chapter is taken 
up with an anecdote about his wife, who he 
said was pretty, and who passed herself off to 
the Egyptians as his sister, and so on. 

Chapter 13 gives an account of Abram 's and 
Lot's return from Egypt, Abram being rich in 
cattle, silver, and gold; also, of Abram and Lot 
having a misunderstanding, whereupon they mu- 
tually agreed to separate. 

Chapter 14 is a kind of military chapter, giv- 
ing an account of a battle of four kings against 



GENESIS. 



five. Lot is taken prisoner, etc. The rest is 
not of any consequence. 

Chapter 16 gives an account of Abram's wife 
giving her Egyptian maid to him for a wife and 
continues the story with, "Sarah said unto 
Abram,' , and "Abram said unto Sarah," and 
so on. The words of those two are certainty 
not God's. 

In Chapter 17, verse 5, Abram's name is 
changed to Abraham, for what reason is not 
given. Verse 24 introduces circumcision, yet 
the Jewish institution of circumcision was ini- 
tiated at a much later date, which will be shown 
further on. 

Chapter 18 tells of Abraham entertaining 
three angels. Sarah laughs at a promise that a 
child would be born to her in her old age. Abra- 
ham has a conference with the Lord, in which 
he pleads for Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Chapter 19 gives an account of Lot entertain- 
ing two angels, and of his wife becoming a 
pillar of salt for looking back; also, of the 
smutty and incestuous behavior of his two 
daughters in making him drunk and laying with 
him. Verse 31: "The first-born said unto the 
younger: 'Our father is old, and there is not a 
man in the earth to come in unto us after the 
manner of all the earth. ' ' ' Verse 32 : ' ' Come, 
let us make our father drink wine, and we will 



40 GENESIS. 



lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our 
father.'" Verse 36: "Thus, were both the 
daughters of Lot with child by their father." 
How, in the name of common sense, can any 
person, free to think and reason, believe for 
one moment that such nonsensical gibberish as 
is here set forth could be the word of God? 

Chapter 22 has the pathetic story of Abraham 
going to Mount Moriah to offer his only son, 
Isaac, as a burnt offering. Such things might 
do for fables or stage-plays, but not for the 
word of God. The story is an account of what 
was said by Isaac to his father, and by Abraham 
to Isaac, and what was said by the angel to 
Abraham; and, in lieu of the murder of his 
child, he discovered a ram to slay. 

The chapters, from the twenty-fourth to the 
thirty-sixth, are taken up with accounts of 
taking wives, murder, rapine, travels of Jacob, 
Isaac, Esau, seductions, etc. The Lord, becom- 
ing friendly with Jacob, caused all the latter 's 
cattle to cast striped young, so as to enrich 
Jacob. 

The thirty-sixth chapter is a strange one, in- 
deed, speaking of dukes and giving their origin. 
Chapter 36, verse 19: "These are the sons: 
Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes," 
giving their names, etc., till we reach the thirty- 
first verse, which reads: "And these are the 



GENESIS. 41 



kings that reigned in the land of Edom before 
there reigned any king over the land of Israel. ' ' 
Strange to say, but it is so, this account is the 
same given in First Chronicles, commencing at 
verse 43, and continuing to the end of the chap- 
ter, word for word as it is in Genesis. Now, 
knowing there was no king over Israel till 'Saul 
sat on the throne, which was, at least, eight 
hundred years after Moses died, according to 
the Bible's account, this is positive proof that 
Moses could not have written Genesis, unless he 
did so eight hundred years after he was dead. 
The thirty-seventh chapter is simply a fabri- 
cated story of the hatred of Joseph by his 
brothers on account of his telling them of a 
dream. This dream is as follows: Verse 7: 
"For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the 
field, and, lo, my sheaf arose and also stood up- 
right, and, behold, your sheaves stood round 
about and made obeisance to my sheaf.' ' At 
verse 9 it is said he dreamed another dream: 
"And, behold, the sun and moon and the eleven 
stars made obeisance to me." This dream ex- 
asperated his brothers, because they thought it 
signified that he should be ruler over them, and, 
therefore, determined to slay him. One of the 
brothers objected to killing him, but was will- 
ing to throw him into a pit. After taking his 
coat of many colors, they cast him into the pit. 



42 GENESIS. 



While they were eating, a company of traveling 
men came along. This caused them to change 
their minds and conclude to sell him, which 
they did for, it is said (verse 23), twenty pieces 
of silver. 

To deceive their father, they stained the coat 
with the blood of a kid, and sent it to him. 
Verse 34: "Jacob rent his clothes, and mourned 
for his son many days." 

This story of Joseph is amusing to children, 
and is more harmless than many others, for the 
reason that it turns out happily for Joseph, 
like the many fairy tales, where unfortunates 
all fall in love and are happy ever after. 

Chapter 38 is too indecent to be printed in a 
book. I defy any preacher to get up in his 
pulpit before a congregation of refined, virtuous 
parents, surrounded by their modest, innocent 
daughters, and read distinctly and emphatically 
this chapter. The laws of our government pro- 
hibit obscene literature passing through the 
mails. If anyone will read the thirty-eighth 
chapter of Genesis, and, notwithstanding, be- 
lieves the Bible to be the sacred word of God, 
and says, "This is not very smutty and ob- 
scene, " then I say he perjures himself, to say 
the least. I will not quote a single word of it, 
for the reason that, as I stated above, it is too 
indecent to be read without shocking the mod- 



GENESIS. 



esty of any refined person. I expect such things 
with which this so-called word of God is filled 
are the reason why priests forbid the laity read- 
ing itj for fear some will see how ridiculous 
such stories are, and doubt. What we doubt we 
do not believe. 

Chapter 39 continues the story, in which this 
writer makes Joseph the principal hero. Joseph 
is sold to one of Pharaoh's officers;, who took a 
Liking to him, and made him chief overseer of 
his household. The officer's wife became 
enamoured with Joseph. Verse 7: "And it 
came to pass, after these things, that his mas- 
ter's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she 
said, 'Lie with me.' " Joseph refused and as- 
sured her his master placed confidence in him 
and trusted him. He, therefore, would not be- 
tray him. The woman was a wanton, and re- 
sorted to strategy in order to betray and ruin 
him because she could not become his mistress. 
Verse 11: "And it came to pass, about this time, 
that Joseph went into the house to attend to his 
business, and there was none of the men of the 
house there within." Verse 12: "And she 
caught him by his garment, saying, 'Lie with 
me.' And he left his garment in her hand and 
fled and got him out." Verse 14: "She then 
called unto the men of her house, and spake 
unto them, saying, 'See, he brought in an He- 



44 GENESIS. 



brew unto us to mock us. He came in unto me 
to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice.' ' 
Verse 16: "And she laid up his garment by 
her until his lord came home." After hearing 
what his wife had to say, the lord sent Joseph 
to prison. But, according to a cant saying of 
this writer (Verse 21), "the Lord was with 
Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him 
favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison." 

Verse 40 gives an account of Joseph becom- 
ing an interpreter of dreams, and his predic- 
tions coming true. The narrative is in char- 
acter and diction similar to this writer's other 
stories. We will see more of dreams and their 
interpretation, and the consequence, and a con- 
tinuation of Joseph's fortunes. 

Chapter 41 gives the dream of Pharaoh and 
Joseph's interpretation of seven years of plenty, 
followed by seven years of famine. After Joseph 
had explained Pharaoh's dream and what would 
follow, he was rewarded by a new name, and 
given a wife and power over all Egypt almost 
equal to Pharaoh's. This is a kind of fairy 
story, where they get married and are happy 
ever after. Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who was 
in prison, and related his dream to him, which 
can be seen in chapter 41, verses 18 to 24, in- 
clusive. Joseph interpreted it as follows (verse 
25) : "And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, 'The 



GENESIS. 45 



dream of Pharaoh is one in which God hath 
showed to Pharaoh what he is about to do; that 
is, there will be seven years of great plenty, 
followed by seven of famine. ' ' ' The story is in- 
consistent and foolish. If God showed to 
Pharaoh what He was about to do, why did the 
latter have to call Joseph to tell him what God 
intended he should know? 

It is natural for writers of fiction to make 
the hero of their stories conspicuous, so as to 
make the narrative plausible. 

In Chapter 42, the narrator, as a consequence 
of the famine, brings great distress for want of 
food on Jacob, who is compelled to send his 
sons to Egypt to buy corn. He sends ten of 
his sons. When they came to Joseph's presence 
he recognized them, but they did not know him. 
Joseph, to deceive them, spoke through an inter- 
preter, though understanding all they said to 
each other. He then told them he would hold 
one of them a prisoner until they could return 
and bring back their youngest brother. So he 
gave them corn for their people, and sent them 
off. 

Chapter 43 gives an account of Jacob re- 
luctantly consenting to let his youngest son go 
with them to Egypt, when Joseph received them 
and feasted them in his own house, and had a 
merry time with them. 



46 GENESIS. 



Chapter 44 tells how Joseph had his silver 
cup put into the sack of the youngest brother, 
and, after they had gone on their way home, sent 
a posse after them. They were overtaken and 
searched, and the cup was found in Benjamin's 
sack. Judah tells to Joseph a very pathetic 
story, and offers himself as a bondsman in his 
brother's place. 

In Chapter 45 Joseph makes himself known 
to his brothers, and sends for his father. 

Chapter 46 relates Jacob's journey to Egypt, 
the number of his family that went with him 
being seventy; the meeting of Joseph with his 
father, and what they said to each other. 

Chapters 47, 48, 49, and 50 describe the death 
of Joseph. 

I have gone carefully through this Book of 
Genesis, that is ascribed to Moses, but the evi- 
dence in the book itself shows that it is not pos- 
sible that Moses could have been the author, as 
I have shown that it gives an account of kings 
that ruled over the Jews, when the first king 
that ever ruled over them was Saul, in the time 
of Samuel, which was about eight hundred years 
after the death of Moses. I find nearly the 
whole of the book very much like stories of 
fiction, and telling what was said by the differ- 
ent persons introduced by the writer at differ- 
ent times. For these dialogues to have been 



GENESIS. 47 



correct, he would have needed an expert stenog- 
rapher to have been present to take down in 
shorthand all that his different characters said 
to each other. 

I fancy, if one wants to free his mind from 
the idea that this writer was inspired by a moral 
man, leaving God, the Almighty Creator of the 
Universe, out of the question, let him get the 
Bible and read the thirty-eighth chapter of 
Genesis, which I stated before was too indecent 
to put in print, and I am sure he will feel sat- 
isfied that the Creator of the Universe, who 
claims our adoration and love for the many bless- 
ings that we enjoy, could never have inspired 
anyone to write such immoral and wicked stuff 
as is there written to be accepted as His word. 



48 EXODUS. 



EXODUS. 

I now proceed to investigate the Book of 
Exodus, the second book said to have been 
written by Moses. 

Chapter 1 starts out by giving the names of 
every man and his household who came with 
Jacob. After the death of Joseph, it is stated 
that a new king ruled over Egypt, who became 
alarmed at the rapid increase of the children of 
Israel, and took action by various ways to pre- 
vent their increase. Verse 15 is very silly. I 
quote it: "And the King of Egypt spoke to the 
Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one 
was Shipkrah, and the name of the other Puah." 
Verse 16 : "And he said, 'When you do office of 
a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them 
upon the stool, if it be a son, then ye shall kill 
him; but, if it be a daughter, then she shall 
live.' " Just to think that two midwives were 
sufficient to wait on a whole nation of women 
during parturition is sufficient to show the igno- 
rance of the writer, and of the king, to put such 
an impossible task on two women. Verse 21: 
"And it came to pass, because of the midwives* 
fear of God, that He made them houses.' ' (How 
foolish!) 

Chapter 2 gives the fairy-like story of the 
birth of Moses. The daughter of Pharaoh took 



EXODUS. 49 



compassion on the babe, and employed ite mother 
to nurse it. It seems strange how rapidly this 
writer makes time fly. Verse 9: Moses was a 
three-months babe. Verse 11: "And it came 
to pass, in those days when Moses was grown, 
and went out unto his brethren, he spied an 
Egyptian smiting an Hebrew.' ' Verse 12: 
"And he looked this way, and that way, and, 
when he saw that there was no man, he slew 
the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand." This 
is absurd. He looked every way and saw no 
man. Where was the man the Egyptian was 
smiting? When Pharaoh heard of the murder 
he sought to slay Moses, but Moses escaped to 
the land of Midian, and sat down by a well, 
where he made the acquaintance of the seven 
daughters of the Priest of Midian. The priest 
gave him one daughter. The King of Egypt 
died. Verse 24: "And God heard them [the 
Jews] groaning, and God remembered his 
covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with 
Jacob.' ' Verse 25: "And God looked upon the 
children of Israel, and God had respect for 
them." God here seems to have forgotten the 
covenant when he allows all the sons born to 
the Jews to be thrown into the river. (Rather 
inconsistent.) 

In this chapter the writer makes God a mira- 
cle-worker. Verse 2: "And the angel of the 



50 EXODUS. 



Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of 
the midst of a bush." Verse 3: "And Moses 
said, 'I will now turn aside to see this great 
sight, why the bush is not burnt. * ' ' Yerse 4 : 
"And God [not the angel] called to him out of 
the bush, and said, ' Moses ! Moses ! ' And he said, 
'Here am I.' " God now goes on to introduce 
Himself to Moses as the God of Jacob, etc., and 
the story goes on from verse to verse, "Thus 
God said unto Moses," and "Moses said unto 
God." In the end God commanded him to go to 
Egypt to gather the elders together. He with 
the elders were to present themselves to the 
king and ask permission to be allowed to go a 
three days' journey to sacrifice to the Lord their 
God. God assured him that the king would not 
consent. In verse 22, chapter 3, God directs the 
Hebrew women to rob their neighbors of jewels, 
of silver and gold and raiment, and put them on 
their sons and daughters, and spoil the 
Egyptians. I expect God may be excused for 
this, as it occurred before he handed to Moses 
the tablets containing the Commandments, in 
which appears, "Thou shalt not steal." (Sorry 
story!) 

Chapter 4 tells how Moses doubted that it 
would be believed, by either the Hebrews or 
Egyptians, that he had had a communication 
with God. God then gave him wonderful signs, 



EXODUS. 51 



such as the rod turning into a snake, his hand 
becoming leprous, the water of the river turn- 
ing into blood, etc. In chapter 4, verse 24, a 
foolish statement is made: "And it came to pass, 
by the way in the river, that the Lord met him 
and sought to kill him." Verse 25: "Then 
Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the 
foreskin of his son, and cast it at his feet, and 
said, 'Surely, a bloody husband art thou to 
me.' " I can see no sense in these two verses. 
They have no connection with the message God 
sent by Moses to the Egyptians. Aaron is now 
introduced, and Moses tells him all that God 
said to him. 

Chapter 5 : Moses and Aaron deliver the mes- 
sage to Pharaoh, who does not believe them, but 
increases the tasks of the Hebrews, and has them 
beaten when they fail to accomplish the work 
exacted of them. Then Moses returned unto the 
Lord, and complained of His treatment of the 
people, and explains that, instead of being de- 
livered, they are made to work harder. 

Verse 3 : The Lord makes another promise un- 
der the name of Jehovah, but Moses doubts that 
either the Hebrews or Pharaoh will believe him. 
This chapter then gives an account of the 
genealogy of the men from whom Moses and 
Aaron sprang, and Moses makes a very silly 
objection at verse 30. I quote: "And Moses 



52 EXODUS. 



said before the Lord, 'I am of uncircumcised 
lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto 
me?' " 

Chapter 7: The Lord encouraged Moses, and 
he returned to Pharaoh with his miracles of the 
rod turning to a snake and the water of the 
river turning to blood. But Pharaoh called his 
magicians and sorcerers, and their rods turned 
to snakes likewise, but were swallowed by Moses ' 
snake. God hardened Pharaoh's heart that he 
might show his powers in other miracles. One 
was smiting the rivers and streams with this 
wonderful rod, whereupon they turned to blood, 
and all the fish therein died and the river 
stunk. It is stated that all the water through- 
out Egypt was turned to blood. In verse 22 it 
is stated that the magicians of Egypt did this 
also. 

In chapter 8 comes the frog miracle. But the 
magicians did this also. Pharaoh then came 
to terms with Moses and agreed to let the 
Israelites go if Moses would remove the frogs. 
Pharaoh, after the frogs were removed, again 
hardened his heart. Aaron brought the lice on 
the Egyptians by turning the dust to lice. The 
magicians tried this, but failed, I suppose, for 
want of dust, Aaron having consumed it all. 
Then came the fly miracle, and Egypt was filled 
with flies, but after they were removed Pharaoh 



EXODUS. 53 



was again deceitful and refused to let the Jews 
go. 

Chapter 9: This chapter deals with the 
plagues of boils and hail. All the Egyptian 
cattle died, but those of the Israelites were ex- 
empt. Then came the ashes of the furnace, 
which caused boils and blains on man and beast. 
(The writer has just stated the beasts were all 
dead.) Moses stretched his wonderful rod 
(verse 23), and the Lord sent thunder and hail, 
and the fire ran along upon the ground. (This 
writer makes hail and fire to mingle.) Pharaoh 
again called for Moses, and said, "It is enough; 
let there be no more hail and I will let you go 
and stay no longer." But Pharaoh again was 
deceitful. 

Chapter 10 : Then came the plague of locusts, 
which ate all that was left of the hail and fire. 
(This writer has above said all was destroyed.) 
The plague of darkness was added, which lasted 
three days. But there was light for the chil- 
dren of Israel. Pharaoh again calls for Moses, 
and said, "Go with all your people, but leave 
the cattle." Pharaoh then drove Moses off and 
tells him to see his face no more. "For in the 
day that thou seest my face, you shall die." 
Verse 29: "And Moses said, 'Thou hast spoken 
well ; I will see your face again no more. ' ' ' 



54 EXODUS. 



Chapter 11, verse 2: "Speak now in the ears 
of the people, and let every man borrow of .his 
neighbor, jewels of silver and jewels of gold." 
This is the second time God has commanded the 
Israelites to spoil the Egyptians, Verse 5 : "And 
all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, 
from the first-born of Pharaoh, that sitteth on 
his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid- 
servant, that is behind the mill, and all the first- 
born of the beasts." (The writer has forgotten 
the beasts had been killed.) Verse 9 : "And the 
Lord said unto Moses, 'Pharaoh shall not 
hearken unto you, that my wonders may be mul- 
tiplied in the land of Egypt.' " 

Chapter 12 contains the passover, when every- 
one sprinkled his doorposts with blood. The peo- 
ple are directed how to cook their meat, and 
how they shall eat it, being very particular in 
the preparation. Verse 9: "Eat not of it raw, 
nor sodden at all with water, but roast with 
fire; his head with his legs, and with the pur- 
tenance thereof." Verse 12: "For I will pass 
through the land of Egypt this night, and will 
smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, 
both man and beast, and against all the gods 
of Egypt will I execute judgment. I am the 
Lord." 

Before proceeding with my examination of 
Exodus I will state some involuntary ideas that 



EXODUS. 55 



came to my mind in going over the preceding 
chapters. I notice Moses is invariably spoken 
of in the third person, as: "The Lord said unto 
Moses," and "Moses said unto the Lord"; 
"Moses said unto the children of Israel," and 
so on, never in a single instance using the sub- 
jective pronoun "I" or the objective pronoun 
"me." This god with whom Moses is so fa- 
miliar is made to be one of the most arrogant, 
wicked, and malignant characters I ever read or 
heard of, causing a whole nation to suffer by 
the different plagues sent on them because of 
the obstinacy of one man, Pharaoh, and it is 
stated that God caused him to be obstinate in 
order that he could show his power, and in 
conclusion destroying all the first-born among 
the whole nation. When I read of the plague 
of darkness, when no one left his place for three 
days, I thought the Israelites could have fled. 
Then this cruelty could have been avoided. 
Anyone to read of the uncalled-for cruelty in 
this book without being horrified will have to 
free himself of all tender and benevolent feel- 
ing. How a person, with common sense and nat- 
ural feelings, can, by superstition, be brought 
to think that what he reads in the Bible of God 
is true and grood, and was written by His au- 
thority, is beyond my comprehension. Can 
there be anything more wicked than to ascribe 



56 EXODUS. 



the wickedness and cruelty of man to the orders 
of the Almighty God, who is justice, mercy, and 
love personified in the minds of all good and 
moral men? 

Chapter 13: "And God went before them by 
day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar 
of fire, so that they could travel night and 
day." 

Chapter 14 shows how God becomes a kind of 
general for the army. Pharaoh pursued them, 
and when they saw the Egyptians they were 
alarmed. But God removed the cloud from be- 
fore them and placed it behind them, and in 
front of the Egyptians, so that he gave light 
to the Israelites and darkness to the Egyptians. 
Then comes into play again the wonderful rod, 
which God commanded Moses to stretch out over 
the sea, and the water receded and formed a 
wall on their right and left, so that they could 
pass on dry land, and after they passed God 
caused Moses to stretch his hand over the sea, 
and the water engulfed the Egyptians. Thus, by 
strategy, God defeated the Egyptians and lib- 
erated the children of Israel out of bondage. 

Chapter 15: In this chapter it is related that 
they went three days without water, and when 
they did find water it was bitter and they could 
not drink it. And the Lord showed Moses a 



EXODUS. 57 



tree, which He had cast into the water and made 
it sweet. 

Chapter 16: The Lord caused the quails to 
come up and cover the camp, and in the morn- 
ing following the ground was covered with 
manna, which was to be bread for them. 

Chapter 17 tells of the miracle of smiting the 
rock of Horeb to obtain water. Then came 
Amelek, and fought with Israel on Riphidon. 
Verse 9 : "And Moses said unto Joshua, 'Choose 
us out men, and go and fight with Amelek. To- 
morrow will I stand on the top of the hill with 
the rod of God in mine hand.'" Verse 11: 
"And it came to pass, when Moses held up his 
hand, Israel prevailed, and, when he let down 
his hand, Amelek prevailed.' ' Verse 12: "And 
Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, one on 
one side, and the other on the other side, and 
his hands were steady until the going down of 
the sun." Verse 13: "And Joshua discomfited 
Amelek and his people with the edge of the 
sword." This is the first battle. The writer 
does not say what they fought about. The ac- 
count of the battle is childish, to say the least 
of it. 

In chapter 18, Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, 
brings to him his wife and two sons, and ad- 
vises him as to the best way to govern the people. 



58 EXODUS. 



Chapter 19: They camp near Mount Sinai. 
Verse 3: "And Moses went up unto God, and 
the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, 
saying, 'Thus shalt thou say to the house of Ja- 
cob and tell the children of Israel.' " Verse 
4: " 'Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, 
and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and 
brought you unto myself.' " 

Chapter 19, verse 14: "And Moses went down 
from the mount unto the people, and sanctified 
the people, and they washed their clothes." 
Verse 15: "And he said unto the people, 'Be 
ready against the third day; come not at your 
wives.' " (This seems too foolish to come from 
the great Creator of the Universe.) 

Chapter 20 : The ten commandments, followed 
by directions to construct an altar. 

Chapter 21: Laws and judgments, some of 
them unjust and oppressive. I will quote a few 
of them. Verse 5: "And if the servant shall 
say plainly, 'I love my master, my wife, and my 
children, I will not go out free. ' ' ' Verse 6 : 
"Then his master shall bring him unto the 
judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or 
unto the door-post, and his master shall bore 
his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve 
him forever. " Verse 20: "If a man smite his 
servant or his maid with a rod, and he die un- 
der his hand, he shall be surely punished," Verse 



EXODUS. 59 



21: "Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or 
two, he shall not be punished, for he is his 
money." Verse 28: "If an ox gore a man or a 
woman that they die, then the ox shall be surely 
stoned, and his flesh shall be eaten, but the owner 
of the ox shall be quit.' , Verse 29: "But if 
the ox were wont to push with his horn in pas- 
time, and it hath been testified to his owner, and 
he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed 
a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and 
his owner shall be put to death." 

Chapter 22 is a continuation of laws and judg- 
ments. Verse 18 : "Thou shalt not suffer a witch 
to live." Verse 20: "He that sacrificeth unto 
any god, save nnto the Lord, he shall be utterly 
destroyed. " Verse 22: "Ye shall not afflict 
any widow or fatherless child. " Verse 23: "If 
thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at 
all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry." Verse 
24: "And My wrath shall wax hot, and I will 
kill you with the sword, and your wives shall 
be widows, and your children fatherless." 

Chapter 23 is a continuation of laws and judg- 
ments. 

Chapter 24 : Moses is called up into the moun- 
tain. Veree 12: "And the Lord said unto 
Moses, 'Come up to me into the mount, and 
be there, and I will give the tablets of stone and 



60 EXODUS. 



a law and commandments which I have written, 
that thou may est teach them.' " 

Chapter 25 : God is an architect, and gives di- 
rections as to what offerings the people shall 
donate to build a sanctuary that He may dwell 
among them. Then God gives directions how 
the sanctuary, or ark, shall be built— its length, 
height, and breadth— and how to finish it. Verse 
11: "And thou shall overlay it with pure gold. 
Within and "without shalt thou overlay it, and 
shalt make upon it a crown of gold roundabout. ' ' 
Verse 12: "And thou shalt cast four rings of 
gold for it, and put them in the four corners 
thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side 
of it, and two rings in the other side of it." 
Verse 13: "And thou shalt make staves of 
shittim wood, and overlay them with gold." 
Verse 14: "And thou shalt put the staves into 
the rings by the side of the ark, that the ark 
may be borne with them." Verse 16: "And thou 
shalt put into the ark the testimony which I 
shall give thee." The ehapter is taken up with 
minute directions as to the mercy-seat of pure 
gold. "Two cherubim of beaten gold shall 
stretch forth their wings on high, covering the 
mercy-seat, and their faces shall look one to 
another; toward the mercy-seat, shall the faces 
of the cherubim be." He orders a table of 
shittim wood to be overlaid with pure gold. 



EXODUS, 61 



Chapter 25: "And thou shalt set upon the 
table shewbread before Me alway, and thou shalt 
make a candlestick of pure gold ; of beaten work 
shall the candlestick be made. His shaft and 
his branches, his bowels, his knobs, and his flow- 
ers, shall be of the same." It will be noticed 
that this candlestick is masculine. Verse 32: 
"And six branches shall come out of the sides 
of it [it is neuter gender now] ; three branches 
of the candlestick out of one side, and three 
branches of the candlestick out of the other 
side." Verse 35: "And there shall be a knob 
under two branches of the same, and a knob un- 
der two branches of the same, and a knob under 
two branches of the same [notice this repeti- 
tion], according to the six branches that pro- 
ceed out of the candlestick." Verse 37: "And 
thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and 
they shall light the lamps thereof that they may 
give over against it. ' ' Verse 38 : " And the tongs 
thereof, and the snuff dishes thereof, shall be of 
pure gold." Verse 40: "And look that thou 
make them after this pattern, which was shewed 
thee in the mount." 

Chapter 26 goes on to describe the curtains, 
the boards of shittim wood, how many loops to 
the curtains, how they shall hang, and so on. 
(Read this harangue in the Bible.) 



62 EXODUS. 

I have quoted these four chapters at length 
in order that the reader can see in what eon- 
tempt the author of the laws of nature's God, 
whose wisdom is too great for the comprehension 
of the mind of man, has been placed by this 
ignorant writer of Exodus. As a lawyer, the 
author of the above laws cannot at all compare 
to Napoleon Bonaparte's code, or the laws now 
being upheld by the great jurists of the civilized 
world. They are puerile, unjust, and contempti- 
ble. The idea is absurd that God wrote them, 
as he is made to say, so that Moses could teach 
them to the Children of Israel, and that they 
could be placed in the wonderful ark of which 
he has been made the architect. As to this won- 
derful ark, or tabernacle, the model of which 
the writer has made God to give Moses, accom- 
panied by explicit and elaborate directions for 
its construction, if he had been writing of a 
conceited Turkish sultan, or some ignorant, ego- 
tistical king, or some heathen emperor who 
wished to make up for want of sense and dig- 
nity by the display of grandeur, he might be 
excused, but he has made himself and his god 
contemptible. 

In chapter 28 God continues His instructions 
to Moses concerning the tabernacle and its court, 
etc. 



EXODUS. 63 



In chapter 29 God directs the ceremonies of 
the consecration of the priests, their clothing, 
etc. The priests are to be Aaron and his sons. 
These directions are given to Moses, and are to 
be carried out by him. They are all too foolish 
to have been originated by anyone but an arro- 
gant, foolish coxcomb. I will quote only one. 
The reader can turn to the chapters, and read 
them and judge for himself. 

Chapter 29, verse 20: "Then thou shalt kill 
the ram, and take of his blood and put it upon 
the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the 
tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the 
thumb of their right hand, and upon the great 
toe of the right foot, and sprinkle the blood 
upon the altar roundabout." 

Chapter 30 is nothing but a continuation of 
what shall be done in the service until we come 
to the ransom of souls. This is plainly a revenue 
for the priests. Verse 11: "And the Lord 
said unto Moses, saying [verse 12], 'When thou 
takest the s^m of the children of Israel 
after their number, then shalt they give 
every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, 
when thou numberest them, that there be no 
plague among them when thou numberest 
them." The next verse tells the amount that 
each one shall pay: "An half shekel shall be 
the offering to the Lord." This is plainly in- 



64 EXODUS. 

tended to enrich the priests, and is still prac- 
ticed by the priests of the present time. Some 
send around a plate and modestly ask the con- 
gregation to contribute to the Lord. Some conch 
their demand in a kind of hidden meaning, snch 
as, "Let your light so shine/' etc. They de- 
vise all manner of means to obtain money, as 
everyone knows who is familiar with the preach- 
ers and priests. They give what they call 
"bazaars" or "fairs," in which they have a 
variety of catch-pennies, postoffices, grab-bags, 
voting for the most popular girl, raffles, etc. 
Moses here claims that God levies a direct tax 
on human beings as a ransom for their souls 
and health. In verses 23 and 24 God directs 
what particular spices and oil shall be used to 
make a holy ointment. Verse 25 is compounded 
after the art of the apothecary: "It shall be 
an holy anointing oil." It is to be used to 
anoint the tabernacle and the priests. There 
is a heavy penalty to use it on anyone else, or 
make it. It is to be holy unto the Lord. 

Chapter 31 gives the names of the men called 
by the Lord to build the tabernacle and tables 
and ornaments already described to Moses very 
elaborately. Verse 18 and last verse tell that 
God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai two tablets 
of testimony— tablets of stone, written upon 
with the finger of God. 



EXODUS. 65 



Chapter 32 : After reading this chapter I con- 
clude to quote enough to show that God is made 
to be both unjust and capricious, and is in- 
fluenced by Moses to change his mind. (Absurd, 
the idea!) Moses having remained upon the 
mountain some time, the people became im- 
patient, and asked Aaron to make them a god. 
Verse 2: "And Aaron said unto them, 'Break 
off the golden earrings which are in the ears of 
your wives, of your sons, and of your daugh- 
ters, and bring them unto me.' " Verse 4: "And 
he received them, and fashioned it with a grav- 
ing tool, after he had made it a golden calf. ,, 
Ver«e 9: "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'I 
have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff- 
necked people.' " Verse 10: " 'Now, therefore, 
let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot 
asrainst them, and that I may consume them, 
and I will make of them a great nation.' " (This 
is nonsense. How could they be made a great 
nation after they were consumed?) Verses 11, 
12, 13: Moses then reminds God of his prom- 
ises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and per- 
suaded him not to wax so hot against his peo- 
ple. Verse 14: "And the Lord repented of the 
evil which he thought to do unto His people." 
When Moses came down he saw the calf, and the 
people dancing. Verse 19: "Moses' anger 
waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his 



66 EXODUS. 

hands, and brake them beneath the mount." 
Verse 20 : " And he took the calf which they had 
made, and burnt it in the fire and ground it to 
powder, and strewed it upon the water, and 
made the children of Israel drink of it." (It is 
stated above that Aaron made the calf.) Aaron 
lays the blame entirely on the people, and Moses 
accepts his explanation, and exonerates Aaron 
from all blame. 

Now, we will see some of the justice of Moses, 
and, as usual, under the command of God. Verse 
27: "And he said unto them: "Thus saith the 
Lord God of Israel: "Put every man his sword 
by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate 
throughout the camp, and slay every man his 
brother, and every man his companion, and 
every man his neighbor." ' " Verse 23: "And 
the children of Levi did according to the word 
of Moses ; and there fell of the people that day 
about three thousand men." Verse 35 is sense- 
less: "And the Lord plagued the people be- 
cause they made the calf" (which Aaron made). 

In Chapter 33 the Lord has another familiar 
talk with Moses. Verse 11: "And the Lord 
spake unto Moses, face to face, as a man speaketh 
unto a friend." The twentieth verse destroys 
the whole of verse 11: "And He [meaning the 
Lord] said: 'Thou canst not see my face; for 
that shall no man see and live.' " Verse 22: 



EXODUS. 67 

"I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and I 
will cover thee with My hand while I pass by." 
Verse 23 : " And I will take away My hand, and 
thou shalt see My back parts, but My face shall 
not be seen.' , 

Here closes this unjust, wicked, and cruel 
chapter, making the so-called Lord of this Moses 
contemptible, mean, capricious, and foolish in 
the extreme. Can anyone read this so-called 
word of the great Creator of the Universe, with 
his natural mind free, and believe it anything 
but a fabrication of some priest, who wanted to 
impose on the people? 

It will be remembered that all the laws herein- 
before mentioned are oppressive to the people, 
but favorable to the priests. The peace offering, 
the sin offering— in fact, all the offerings— are 
animals brought to the priests. This Lord of 
theirs seems to delight in the sacrifice of life, 
and glories in blood and gore and the sweet 
savor of burning flesh. From the account given 
by this writer, the priests had a continual 
barbecue, for this sacrifice was to be perpetual 
by order of God. 

Chapter 24 gives a harangue, similar in style 
and diction, about the removing of the tablets 
and Moses receiving the ten commandments. In 
it, however, Moses does the writing. The ones 
that Moses broke, the Lord wrote on with his 



68 EXODUS. 



finger. Verse 23: "And he was there with the 
Lord forty days and forty nights. He did 
neither eat bread nor drink water. And he 
wrote upon the tablets the words of the 
covenant— the ten commandments." 

I will here state that the most moral of these 
ten commandments have been observed and en- 
forced by all nations, either civilized or savage. 
There could be no kind of society without them. 
Some of them are repugnant to moral justice. I 
will mention the one where the sins of the 
fathers are visited on the children to the third 
and fourth generation. The rest of this chap- 
ter is rather disgusting to anyone with a natural 
sense of decency and true morality. 

In chapter 35 the priests are very much re- 
membered. Yerse 5 : " Take ye from among you 
an offering unto the Lord. Whosoever is of a 
willing heart, let him bring it an offering of 
the Lord; gold and silver and brass. " Verse 6: 
"And blue and purple and scarlet, and fine 
linen, and goat's hair." The writer enumerates 
a number of presents to be made the Lord, such 
as oilskins of different kinds, onyx, and other 
fine stones. 

Chapters 36 and 37 are devoted to another de- 
scription similar to what has already been 
written. This writer recapitulates frequently. 
He has all the men chosen and especially in- 



EXODUS, 69 



spired by God to build the tabernacle in the 
least workman-like manner. They are inspired 
in the art of working both wood and metal. The 
rest of the chapter is an elaborate description of 
the different things pertaining to the ornaments 
of the tabernacle, and the crowns, breastplates, 
robes and girdles for the priests, and some for- 
malities to be observed. Then comes a miracle: 
' ' The cloak of the Lord was upon the tabernacle 
by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight 
of all the House of Israel throughout all their 
journey." Thus ends this narrative that the 
superstitious, the credulous, and the priests call 
the ""Word of God," according to Exodus, the 
second book of Moses. I, in the name of the 
true Deity and God of Nature, protest. 



70 LEVITICUS. 



LEVITICUS. 

I will now read and investigate the third book 
of Moses, called "Leviticus." This whole book 
is taken up in the formalities of how the offer- 
ings shall be conducted by the persons tender- 
ing the offerings, which are of bullocks, sheep, 
goats, doves, and pigeons, and how the priests 
shall receive them at the tabernacle. What is 
to be done with the blood, fat, flesh, head, skin, 
intestines, and dung, it is tiresome to read, as 
well as disgusting. "And the Lord said unto 
Moses : 'Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, if the offerings be of fowls, 
then he shall bring his offerings of twelve doves 
or of young pigeons, and the priest shall bring 
it unto the altar and wring off its head, and burn 
it on the altar, and the blood thereof shall be 
wrung out by the side of the altar. It is a sac- 
rifice—an offering made by fire— of a sweet 
savor unto the Lord/ " 



JOSHUA. 71 

ON THE BOOK OF JOSHXJA. 

Chapter 1 : Joshua receives his appointment to 
succeed Moses. He now gets his instructions 
and promise of help direct from God instead of 
through Moses. He proceeds to cross Jordan 
and take possession of the Promised Land. 

Chapter 2: Joshua sent out spies to Jericho 
on secret service. They took lodging in a har- 
lot's house, whose name was Rahab, who hid 
them on the roof and covered them with flax, 
and deceived the men who were sent to arrest 
them. Afterwards, she and the spies entered 
intp an agreement to be true to each other. 

Chapter 3: There is another miracle of di- 
viding the waters and crossing over Jordan on 
dry land. This occurred when the priests 
dipped the ark in the water. 

Chapter 4 contains nothing of interest. 

Chapter 5, verse 13: "And it came to pass" 
that Joshua discovered an angel with a drawn 
sword, who claimed to be one of the Lord's cap- 
tains. Joshua fell on his face and worshiped. 
The captain told him to loose his shoes from off 
his feet, for the place he stood on was holy, and 
Joshua did so. 

Chapter 6, verse 5: "And it came to pass" 
that, by God's instructions, the Israelites, by 
passing around the wall of Jericho seven times, 



72 JOSHUA. 



and making a long blow with the rams' horns 
and shouting with a great shout, caused the 
walls of the city to fall down. (I suppose this 
shout made the earth tremble as if it were 
afflicted by an earthquake.) Terse. 17: All in 
the city were cursed ; only Ahab, the harlot, and 
her family were permitted to live. All the sil- 
ver and gold and vessels of brass and iron were 
consecrated unto the Lord. 

Chapter 7 : More cruelty for slight offenses. 

Chapter 8: City of Ai is captured by 
strategy and all destroyed, including men and 
women to the number of twelve thousand. 

Chapter 10: God lends a helping hand, and 
casts down stones from heaven, slaying thou- 
sands. Joshua commands the sun to stand still, 
and the moon stayed. This writer did not 
know that the world's revolution causes day 
and night, yet it is claimed that the writers of 
the Bible were inspired by God. 

Chapter 11: More cities taken and destroyed. 

Chapter 12 tells of how many kings were 
taken and destroyed by Moses and Joshua (two 
by Moses and thirty-one by Joshua), and the 
landed wasted by war. 

All the chapters, from the thirteenth to the 
twenty-third, are taken up with the distribu- 
tion of the land and boundaries of each tribe, 
and finishes with the end of Joshua. 



JOSHUA. 73 



Like the books of Moses, I cannot see where 
the world has been benefited by the Book of 
Joshua. They are both filled with wickedness 
in all the most disgusting and shocking forms 
to anyone with natural feelings of refinement 
or pity. They do not teach either morality, 
civilization, or virtue. They reduce their god 
to a contemptible, capricious, malicious, exact- 
ing, unjust demon, and no true Deist believes 
any of them. 

This narrative recapitulates very nearly all 
that has been formerly stated about offerings, 
laws, and judgments that the Lord told Moses 
to repeat to the people. He varies in chapter 11, 
where he tells them what to eat and what not to 
eat, what is clean and what is unclean, how and 
when they shall eat, and so on. 

Chapter 12: The Lord speaks unto Moses, 
saying, "Speak unto the children of Israel, say- 
ing, 'If a woman have conceived seed, and borne 
a man-child, she shall be unclean seven days,' " 
and then directions are given for her purifica- 
tion, which takes thirty days. 

Chapter 13 : "And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, " and then come laws about skin dis- 
eases and their diagnosis by the priests, and 
laws respecting what is to be done with the 
cases under different circumstances. 

Chapter 4: "And the Lord spoke unto Moses, 



74 JOSHUA. 

'This shall be the law upon the leper/ " He 
then directs the priests with some silly advice. 
Yerse 4: ''Then shall the priest command to 
take, for him that is to be cleansed, two birds 
alive and clean, and cedarwood and scarlet and 
hyssop. " Yerse 5: "And the priest shall com- 
mand that one of the birds be killed in an 
earthen vessel over running water." The other 
bird is to be dealt with in a foolish manner, and 
turned loose in the open field. This is making 
God out to be a superstitious conjurer, a char- 
latan, quack, faith doctor, and a contemptible 
character. This chapter is filled with this 
ridiculous stuff to its end. 

Chapter 13 is a continuation of the same, only 
much more indecent and disgusting, such as 
(verse 16) : "And if any man's seed of copula- 
tion go out of him.' , Yerse 18: "The woman, 
also, with whom man shall lie with seed of 
copulation. ' ' It would take up the whole of this 
chapter to tell all of the word of God in this 
case. 

Chapter 16 is taken up with the way in which 
the high priest shall appear at the tabernacle, 
bringing a young bullock for a sin offering or a 
ram for a burnt offering. Then comes the fable 
of the scapegoat. Yerse 21: "And Aaron shall 
lay his hands upon the head of the live goat and 
confess over him all the iniquities of the Chil- 



JOSHUA. 75 



dren of Israel, and all their transgressions in 
all their sins, putting them all upon the head 
of the goat, and shall send him away by the 
hand of a fit man into the wilderness. ' ' Verse 
22: "And the goat shall bear upon him all their 
iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he 
shall let go the goat in the wilderness. ' ' It takes 
the rest of the chapter to tell all the formali- 
ties Aaron must do after sending off the goat. 

The ten remaining chapters are filled with 
just such fabrications as are found in the pre- 
ceding, with the addition of threats and prosti- 
tution of women. 

After carefully reading this book, I am only 
impressed with the fact that there is nothing in 
it to benefit or instruct mankind, and that the 
writer always spoke of Moses in the third per- 
son. ("And the Lord spake unto Moses," thus 
and so, "saying.") The God that is said to 
have spoken all this to Moses was an ignorant, 
cruel assassin and malicious demon, and the only 
persons well provided for were the priests, who 
were supplied with animals and fowls to sac- 
rifice to this blood-loving god, and for feasting 
on themselves. Consequently, I think it was 
written by some hypocritical priest, at what 
age or time no one can find out. But I dissent 
from the opinion that there is any truth in the 
whole book, but assert that it is a fabulous com- 
position from beginning to end. 



76 NUMBEES. 



ON NUMBERS. 

In this book Moses still figures as God's 
spokesman, giving man laws as to offerings and 
various laws equally absurd. The Lord has 
quails blown from the sea to feed the people. 
God came down in a cloud and spoke with 
Moses, and took the spirit that was upon Him 
and gave it unto seventy elders to assist Moses. 
There is more talk of miracles, the numbering 
of all the people, giving the names of their 
tribes, and more threats of the Lord. He passes 
sentence on them and their children. 

Chapter 14, verse 33: "And your children 
shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and 
bear your whoredom until your carcasses be 
wasted in the wilderness." This fearful punish- 
ment is for the frivolous offense of murmuring 
because of the suffering they are made to 
undergo. 

Chapter 16, verse 30: "But if the Lord make 
a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and 
swallow them up with all that;i appertaineth 
unto them, and they go down quick into the pit, 
then ye shall understand these men have pro- 
voked the Lord." Verse 32: "And it came to 
pass the earth opened her mouth and swallowed 
them up and their houses. ' ' The Israelites mur- 
mured at Moses for this destruction of people. 



NUMBEES. 77 



Verses 44 and 45: "And the Lord spake unto 
Moses, saying, ' Get you up from among this con- 
gregation that I may consume them.' " Verse 
49: "And they that died were 14,700, beside 
the ones that were swallowed up by the earth 
opening her mouth." 

In the name of common sense, where is there 
any justice or mercy in this god that spoke so 
much to Moses? 

Chapter 19 : "And the Lord spake unto Moses 
and unto Aaron." Verses 2 to 10 contain the 
ridiculous story of the ashes of a red heifer, and 
its uses, etc. 

Chapter 20 relates the death of Aaron and 
his wife. This was because they were not con- 
siderate enough of God in the sanctifying busi- 
ness when Moses smote the rock for water. 

Chapter 21, verse 5 : The people complain for 
want of bread and water. Verse 6: Then the 
merciful God that brought them out of Egypt 
"sent fiery serpents among the pjeople, and they 
bit the people, and much people of Israel died." 
They then acknowledge that it was a sin against 
God and Moses to complain for want of bread. 
Verse 8: "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Make 
thee a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole.' And 
it came to pass, when anyone was bitten and he 
looked upon the serpent on the pole, he lived." 

Chapter 22 tells the story of Balaam and the 



78 NUMBERS. 



angel of the Lord and the talking ass. There 
is nothing strange in this, as we have been in- 
formed of a talking snake. 

Ghapter 25: The people get into trouble at 
Shittim on meeting with the daughters of Moab. 
The plague is sent again. Yerse 7: "And those 
that died of the plague were twenty and four 
thousand.' ' God became reconciled because a 
priest ran a javelin through a man's and a 
woman's belly. 

Chapter 31 : In this chapter is given the most 
cruel, wicked order that was ever given by man. 
No heathen or savage was ever guilty of the 
hideous slaughter of infants and helpless women, 
before or since, in the knowledge of the world. 
It is so shocking to my feelings that I dislike to 
write it. I try to console myself by not believ- 
ing it to be true. Yerse 17: "Now, therefore, 
kill every male among the little ones, and kill 
every woman that hath known a man by lying 
with him." Yerse 18: "But all the women chil- 
dren that hath not known a man by lying with 
him, keep alive for yourselves." Yerse 35: 
"And thirty and two thousand persons in all, 
of women that had not known a man by lying 
with him." Yerse 40: "And the persons were 
sixteen thousand, of which the Lord's tribute 
was thirty and two persons." Just think of the 
feelings of these helpless women while being 



NUMBERS. 70 



debauched by the fiends in the shape of man, 
who had murdered their fathers, brothers, moth- 
ers, and sisters! The idea of this horrid cruelty- 
being sanctioned and ordered by God is too hor- 
rible! No devil or demon could have done 
worse! 

Chapters 34 and 35 show how the land of 
Canaan was divided among the tribes, as God 
said to Moses they were to be divided for an 
inheritance. They are also given a lot of laws 
they are to observe in this land of Canaan. How 
any person with a natural, moral sense of jus- 
tice, which God has, by His spirit, filled the 
breasts of all good men, can allow himself for a 
moment to believe this story is more than I can 
conceive. God is justice, love and mercy, and 
reason does not allow our minds to associate him 
with anything else. I believe Moses lied every 
time he said that God commanded him to do a 
wicked or cruel act. I do not believe that Moses 
is the author of these books, and hope this hor- 
rid story is a fabrication. I know from intui- 
tion that the God of all nature could not have 
been responsible for any part of it. God's wis- 
dom is beyond the comprehension of the mind 
of man, and the writers of these books were 
both foolish and silly. Josephus, in his account 
of the antiquity of the Jews, was a much better 
writer and far more satisfactory. He gives nar- 
ratives which are more true to nature. 



80 DEUTEKONOMY. 

ON DEUTERONOMY. 

Deuteronomy is the fifth and last book of 
Moses, and I am glad of it. It contains the 
giving of more laws, as its name implies, by God 
to Moses, ostensibly for the people, but in reality, 
as usual, for the benefit of the priests. 

In chapters 1 and 2 the Israelites are told 
what lands they should possess after killing all 
the inhabitants, and what lands they should not 
have. 

Chapter 3 has the account of where King Og 
and all his people were given to them to be 
slain, as usual, and how they took possession of 
all their victims had. Og is represented as a 
giant, and the size of his iron bed is given. 

Chapter 4: Moses appoints three cities of 
refuge on one side of Jordan, where a murderer 
could flee to save his life after having killed his 
neighbor. He then exhorts the people to be 
obedient to the laws, gives the boundaries of the 
land that they are to rob the inhabitants of and 
murder the natives for, and recapitulates the 
laws and what God had done for them— bring- 
ing them out of Egypt with His mighty hand, 
etc. 

In Chapter 7 all communication with other na- 
tions is forbidden. Here are recorded, in verses 
15 and 16, more promises which are extremely 



DEUTERONOMY. 81 

wicked: "And the Lord will take away all sick- 
ness and will put none of the evil diseases of 
Egypt, which thon knowest, upon thee, but will 
lay them upon all them that hate Me." Verse 
16: "And thou shalt consume all the people 
which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee. Thine 
eye shall have no pity upon them, neither shalt 
thou serve their gods that will be a snare unto 
thee." 

Chapter 20: "Moreover, the Lord thy God 
will send the hornet among them until they that 
are left hide themselves from the destroyer.' * 

Chapters 9 and 10 are a continuation of 
exhortation and obedience, and persuades them 
to have no opinions of their own, but to depend 
on the priests. He reminds them again of the 
calf which they once made. It will be remem- 
bered, however, that Aaron made the calf. 

Chapter 10 is on the restoration of the two 
tables that Moses broke when he was angry. 
Verse 16: "Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin 
of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. " 

Chapter 14 directs their diet— what shall be 
eaten and what shall not be eaten, and when 
to eat. Then comes the tithes, as tax, for divine 
service. 

Chapters 15 and 16 are an insignificant con- 
tinuation. 



82 DEUTERONOMY. 



Chapter 17 tells how they are to allow God 
to set a king over them. Verses 16 and 17 re- 
late to the duties and laws to govern the king 
after he is set up : "He shall not multiply horses 
to himself, neither shall he multiply wives to 
himself, neither shall he greatly multiply gold 
and silver to himself." Solomon did not ob- 
serve this law when he became king, or the 
Lord had forgotten it, for Solomon seemed to 
be greatly favored with wives and much wealth. 
He is said to have had seven hundred wives and 
three hundred concubines. 

Chapter 21 contains some more foolish laws, 
such as when captives are taken for wives. Verses 
11 and 12 : " And search among the captives for 
a beautiful woman, and if thou hast a desire 
unto her, that thou would«t have her to be thy 
wife, then bring her home to thine own house, 
and she shall shave her head and pare her nails." 
The idea of such nonsense from the all-wise God! 
Then come similar foolish laws concerning dam- 
sels and virsrins, etc., to the end of the chapter. 
Chanter 22 is a continuation of laws. 

Chapter 23 contains laws as to who shall, and 
who shall not, enter into the congregation. 
Verse 1: "He that is wounded in the stones, or 
hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter. 
A bastard shall not enter the congregation, even 
to his tenth generation." Verse 21 is for the 



DEUTEEONOMY. 83 

benefit of priests: "When thou shalt vow a 
vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack 
to pay it, for the Lord thy God will surely re- 
quire it of thee, and it would be sin in thee." 

Chapter 25 has more insignificant laws, some 
of which are disgusting. Verses 11 and 12: 
"When men strive together, one with another, 
and the wife of the one draweth near for to 
deliver her husband out of the hand of him, 
and putteth forth her hand and taketh him by 
the secrets, then thou shalt cut off her hand; 
thine eye shall not pity her." 

Chapters 26, 27, and 28 are full of foolish 
laws and curses. 

Chapter 32, verses 49 and 50: "And the Lord 
spake unto Moses that self -same day, saying, 
'Get thee up into this mountain, Abarim, unto 
Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that 
is over against Jericho, and behold the land of 
Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel 
for a possession, and die in the mount, and be 
gathered unto thy people.' " 

Chapter 34, verses 5 and 6: "So Moses died 
there, and he buried him in a valley in the land 
of Moab, over against Beth Peor; but no man 
knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." 

The question naturally arises : Who wrote this 
account of Moses' death, and finished this book? 
Moses could not have written it after he was 



84 DEUTERONOMY. 



dead; neither could anyone else, for the writer 
says that no one knows where Moses was buried. 
I further call attention to the fact that the 
writer speaks of God and Moses in the third 
person. I, therefore, conclude that the whole 
five books which are said to be books of Moses 
were written by some narrator a long time after 
the former's death. It does not matter who 
wrote them. The world would have been just 
as well off had they never been written at all. 
I find nothing in the whole five books that 
teaches us anything for our comfort, pleasure, or 
preservation of our lives, and surely it does not 
teach us morality or justice. The whole of them is 
filled with blood, murder, assassination, rapine, 
and cruelty. It is filled with what God said 
unto Moses, and Moses said unto God, making 
God accountable for all of the most tyrannical 
persecution that the peoples mentioned therein 
are said to have undergone, and that nothing 
was pleasure to God but death, blood, and the 
fumes of burning flesh, which the writer fre- 
quently stated was an agreeable savor unto the 
Lord. I rejoice and am grateful to God that 
I do not believe a word of it. 

Again, I am grateful to God that such men 
as Benjamin Franklin, Victor Hugo, Eugene 
Sue and many other great philosophers lived 
and wrote books that freed my mind of the 



DEUTEBONOMY. 



superstition that was ground into me by hypo- 
critical, pious frauds during my childhood, and 
that God has endowed me with reason to see 
that what I read in the books of Moses are not 
words of the true God, but the words of the 
various characters introduced by the writer to 
make up this improbable and wicked story. He 
makes Moses have the audacity to say for him- 
self that he was meek. Numbers, chapter 12, 
verse 3: "Now the man Moses was very meek 
above all the men which were upon the face of 
the earth.' ' To be meek is to be gentle, for- 
bearing, hard to make angry. He, according 
to the statements of these books, was the op- 
posite in the extreme. He became angry at the 
most trifling offense, and was more harsh in 
his sentences and judgments than a ay Russian 
tyrant ever was, with his knout, or his dun- 
geon, or sentence of exile to the mines of Si- 
beria, passed on the Nihilists. Anyone who 
can read the books of Moses and not be shocked 
is without pity or the spirit of God in his soul. 
I detest it, as I do all cruelty. 



86 ON SIN. 



ON SIN. 

According to the preachers and priests, a 
child is born in sin, and is forever damned if it 
is not born again through baptism administered 
by some one in authority, ordained by some 
church for the purpose. Each church prescribes 
a particular method, and claims that its is the 
only valid method acceptable to God. If this 
be true, there is only one that is right, and, as 
there are a great many different churches, all 
having followers, the only children whose 
parents happen to belong to the right church can 
be saved. All others are lost for permitting 
themselves to be born of a mother not having 
the right faith. As the children are in no way 
to blame, God would be very unjust to condemn 
them to everlasting punishment. Sins against 
God, according to each church's doctrine, mean 
not conforming in thought and belief to the ac- 
cepted faith of its particular creed, no matter 
how absurd to reason or the established law of 
nature. It is blasphemy and a very grievous sin 
to doubt, or in any way question, the authority 
of the church to dictate the manner in which 
we must conduct our lives or belief. According 
to these priests, God becomes very angry and in- 
dignant if we cannot believe the miracles that 
we read of in the Bible, such as the talking 
snake in the Garden of Eden, the whale and 



ON SIN. 87 



Jonah story, and many others that are so far 
out of the course of nature that reason causes 
as to doubt, and doubt is the opposite of belief. 
Though God is the author of our being as well 
as reason, we cannot exercise it without great 
sin. Priests give us the consolation that they 
have the power of absolving our sins if we will 
remunerate them by paying to them money, and 
they also pretend to have the power of granting 
indulgence to commit sin if we pay them enough 
to justify them in doing so. They even claim 
that, when a person dies unforgiven, they can 
reconcile God with a few prayers, and release 
him from purgatory, provided the deluded 
friends of the deceased pay for said prayers. 
Priests so construe their methods of salvation 
as to have it produce a revenue for them. If a 
person is guilty of the grave sin of not becom- 
ing a member of their church, they will not 
grant him their valuable services at his funeral. 
They also consecrate a piece of land, and will 
not allow an unbeliever a grave there. Of course, 
the deluded think that, at the resurrection, God 
will only find those buried in this consecrated 
plot". I do not know the manner in which they 
consecrate, but I expect all that is necessary is 
to sprinkle it with some holy water, while, at 
the same time, chanting a few Latin words. 
Not to believe in the strange and unnatural 



88 ON SIN. 



way in which Christ is said to have been born of 
a virgin sired by a ghost is to incur eternal 
damnation. Such absurd ideas were in vogue 
at that time. The mythological gods were said 
to have cohabited with women. Jupiter, alone, 
was supposed to have cohabited with hundreds. 
Since the science of phvsiology has demonstrated 
conception and fecundation, and the laws of 
nature are understood, such lame theories are 
no longer credited; and I believe that any in- 
telligent man, though he may preach it and say 
he believes it, perjures himself. But to have 
the assurance to doubt the truth of this strange 
and supernatural conception and birth would be 
worse than blasphemy, and, less than two hun- 
dred years ago, a person so declaring would, 
probably, have been burned at the stake. The 
discovery of any scientific truth contrary to the 
accepted ideas of the ignorant writers of the 
Bible was a sin punished with death. Galileo 
was burned at the stake for saying the world 
was round, for he saw its shadow on the moon. 
Sin, then, is to disbelieve anything that is found 
in the Bible, because it is said that the men who 
wrote it were inspired by God, and, therefore, 
that it must be accepted as the truth and the 
written word of God. Those inspired men 
proved to be very ignorant in the science of 
astronomy. They thought the world was flat. 



ON SIN. 



They knew nothing of the revolution of the 
planets. It is reasonable to suppose that, if 
God inspired them, he would have instructed 
them correctly, for, surely, the Creator knew 
how the world was constructed. But scientific 
progress was held in check by the priests for 
centuries. It was dangerous to discover any 
truth that would conflict with the mistakes of 
the Bible writers. The fate of Galileo was a 
warning to others not to make discoveries deroga- 
tory to the accepted word of God. 

If it be sin to seek for knowledge and truth, 
then all the scientific men of to-day are great 
sinners, for, by studying the laws of nature, 
they have proved beyond a doubt that the men 
who wrote the Bible were very ignorant as to 
the laws of God. Should one of our learned 
astronomers have lived at the time the Bible 
was compiled, and predicted with mathematical 
certainty an eclipse of the moon or sun, he 
would have been considered a magician or 
demon, and probably burned at the stake. As 
for sin, I do not believe anyone can commit a 
sin against his Creator without injuring him- 
self or someone else, or willfully and unneces- 
sarily cause suffering to a living creature. If 
we love justice and mercy and are kind, God 
will bless us. The greatest sinners, it seems to 
me, are the hypocrites who are destitute of the 



90 ON SIN. 



true religion and moral teaching of Christ, who 
live in luxury at the expense of the needy poor 
and credulous, who hold offices bought in the 
Church, and teach others to believe that re- 
demption has to be bought of priests. Poor, de- 
luded creatures are they who think it their 
bounden duty to God to confess every thought 
and action of their lives to the priests, who im- 
pose a penance, making their hard life still 
more wretched. These deluded creatures have 
such faith in the priest that they think the sal- 
vation of their souls depends on implicit 
obedience, and deprive themselves and their 
children of the necessaries of life to pay their 
dues to the Church, and buy salvation for their 
souls with money. The greatest sinners on earth 
are these hypocritical, contemptible, so-called 
fathers of the Church. 

The spirit of Christ can and does enter the 
soul of all moral Deists, but is repulsed by the 
hypocritical priest. 



FIEST AND SECOND KINGS. 91 

ON THE FIRST AND SECOND KINGS. 

With the beginning of these books ends the 
reign of David, and Solomon is made king. 

Chapter 1 gives an account of the proceeding 
of Solomon's being made king. 

Chapter 2 tells of David's charge to Solomon. 
Solomon had several men put to death for 
an attempt to usurp the throne, among them 
Joab, David's favorite general. 

In chapter 3 Solomon makes friends with 
Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and takes his daugh- 
ter. God gives Solomon wisdom, riches, and 
honor. Solomon goes to "the Ark and offers up 
burnt offerings. Then come two women that 
were harlots, and told the tale of the child of 
one being taken while she slept and the dead 
child laid in its place. Then comes Solomon's 
judgment, and the people saw he was wise. 

Chapter 4 is taken up with Solomon's pos- 
sessions, his stables and officers, the number of 
horses, which were forty thousand, and twelve 
thousand horsemen. It states, also, the amount 
of provisions and the number of cattle, sheep, 
and other animals and fowls that are needed for 
his household for one day. His songs were a 
thousand and five. 

Chapter 5 gives an account of Hiram, King 
of Tyre, sending to congratulate Solomon, and 



PIKST AND SECOND KINGS. 



how they made an agreement to exchange food 
for timber. 

I can see by the change of diction and style 
that the writer is not the same who wrote the 
former books. 

Chapter 6 states that Solomon began to build 
the house of the Lord, which was four hundred 
and eight years after the children of Israel came 
out of Egypt. The chapter is taken up with 
the building and adorning of the temple, and 
the time it took to build it. The foundation was 
laid in the fourth year and finished in the 
eleventh year. 

Chapter 7 gives a description of the build- 
ing and of all the material, the amounts, the 
number of pillars, and the different compart- 
ments. 

In Chapter 9 God appears to Solomon the 
second time, and said unto him what He would 
do for him, etc. 

Chapter 10 gives an account of the visit of 
the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, and her sur- 
prise at his wisdom and wealth and the beauties 
of the temple, etc. 

In chapter 11, Solomon, like all the other 
kings, aroused the anger of this god, who was 
jealous of the gods of other nations. Solomon 
disregarded the injunction that he should not 
make wives of strange women, lest they lead 



FIEST AND SECOND KINGS. 



him to worship their gods. He had seven hun- 
dred wives and three hundred concubines, and 
his wives turned him away to their gods. Verse 
8: "And likewise did he for all his strange 
wives which burned incense and sacrificed unto 
their gods." Solomon did not show much wis- 
dom in trying to seek happiness and pleasure 
by rendering a thousand women miserable. It 
seems strange to me that this god and all his 
prophets could not see into the future far 
enough to foretell that his kings would trans- 
gress. God threatened Solomon, but does not 
punish him directly, but through his sons after 
his death. But God stirred up an adversary 
unto Solomon in Jeroboam. Solomon sought to 
kill him, but he fled. 

Chapters 12 and 13 are filled with strange 
and foolish prophecies and miracles, such as the 
king stretching forth his hand and the arm dry- 
ing up, so that he could not take it in again, 
and his calling on the man of God to intercede 
for him, and the hand was restored, etc. In 
verse 18 two prophets meet, and one lied to the 
other, and persuaded him to go to his house and 
eat bread, when God had formerly forbidden 
him to eat and drink. He was told, if he did so 
(verse 22), "thy carcass shall not come unto the 
sepulchre of thy fathers.' ' Verse 24: "And 
when he had gone a lion met him by the way and 



94 FIBST AND SECOND KINGS. 

slew him, and his carcass was cast in the way, 
and the ass stood by it. The lion also stood by 
the carcass.' ' Verse 25: "A man, passing by, 
saw the carcass and the lion standing by, and 
came and told in the city where the old prophet 
died/* Bather strange coincidence for the 
writers of the word of God, and strange these 
prophets could not see into the future enough 
to know a lion was in wait for them. This may 
do for priests and Bible writers, but it looks 
to me like fables with which to amuse chil- 
dren. This writer only required eleven chap- 
ters to tell about all of the forty years' reign of 
the wisest man the world ever knew. Solomon 
failed, with all his god-like wisdom, to instruct 
anyone in the sciences and arts. He had to call 
on Hiram, or, rather, two Hirams, to build the 
wonderful temple. I suppose his wisdom con- 
sisted in getting together gold, women, horses, 
and chariots, and making a great display. He 
showed ignorance and ingratitude, both, when 
he let himself be estranged from the God that 
had done so much for him, after being warned 
by God, too. What could he expect of other 
gods? And he was certainly aware of the fact 
that his God was very jealous, and nothing made 
Him more angry than for men to run after other 
gods. He destroyed thousands on a number of 
occasions for committing offenses against Him, 



FIBST AND SECOND KINGS. 95 

some of which were very slight, such as casting 
a golden calf. But Solomon did better than any 
of the former rulers and kings. He kept out of 
war and made friends of other kings, and took 
their daughters to fill his harem. 

The writer then gives a rapid account of the 
several rulers whom God set up. All of them 
provoked Him and made Him angry. He pun- 
ished them by taking away their posterity and 
setting others up. 

Chapter 16, verse 5: "Now, the rest of the 
acts, and what He did, are they not written in 
the Book of Chronicles of the kings of Israel t" 
I quote this verse to show how these Gospel 
writers get things mixed. The Book of Chron- 
icles was written some four hundred years after 
Solomon reigned. How, then, is it possible that 
the writer of the Book of Solomon could have 
known what was written in Chronicles, unless 
he wrote it after Chronicles was written? 

Chapter 17 introduces Elijah, to whom the 
word of the Lord came, saying (verse 2) : "Get 
thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide 
thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jor- 
dan/ ' Verse 4: "And thou shalt drink of the 
brook, and I have commanded the ravens to 
feed thee there.' ' Yerse 7: "And the brook 
dried up. " Verse 8 : The word of the Lord then 
told him to go to a widow woman he had com- 



96 FIKST AND SECOND KINGS. 

Mt 

manded to feed him. Then comes the fairy tale 
of the erase of oil and the barrel of meal, which 
were miraculously replenished, etc. 

Chapter 18 tells of the miracle of Mount 
Carmel, in which the Lord showed His suprem- 
acy over Baal by the fire coming down from 
heaven and consuming the bullocks after much 
water had been poured over them and the altar 
on which they were laid. Elijah then had the 
false prophets slain. He then returned to Car- 
mel and prayed for rain, and much rain fell, 
and the drought ceased, and the famine ended. 
All this was done to convince the people that 
Elijah's God was greater than the gods of Baal. 
This story is similar to others that were told at 
different times to convince the people that this 
God was greater than all other gods. These 
stories, whether they be the imagination of some 
writer or fabricated from tradition, are not 
equal to the tales of the "Arabian Nights," 
which have been read for centuries, and are still 
being read, for pastime and amusement. No one 
is expected to, or does, believe any part of them 
to be true, yet they are more probable and 
plausible than this fabulous story of Elijah, 
which is believed not only to be true, but the 
word of God. They may do for a mythological 
god or gods, for there are a great many, but 
not for our great unknowable Father and 



FIEST AND SECOND KINl^. 97 

Creator of the Universe, who only speaks to man 
through created nature and His natural laws, 
which we should study for our benefit and com- 
fort. I am grateful to God that he has given 
to me an independent power to think that does 
not allow me for a moment to believe Him capa- 
ble of anything but justice, mercy and love 
towards his creation, regardless of nationality 
or race. Whether they be descendants of Abra- 
ham, Isaac and Jacob, or some Greek, Egyptian, 
Pocahontas or Choctaw— American Indian or 
Chinese Sam Sing— they are all of his creation. 

Chapters 18, 19, 20, and 21 contain more 
strange sayings, and good and bad people. 
Others were anointed kings. 

Chapter 22, verse 19.: "I saw the Lord sit- 
ting on his throne, and all the host of heaven 
standing by him on his right hand and on his 
left." Verse 20: "And the Lord said, 'Who 
shall persuade Ahab that he may go up and 
fall at Ramoth-Gileadr " Verse 21: "And 
there came forth a spirit, and stood before the 
Lord, and said, 'I will persuade him/ And the 
Lord said, 'Wherewith?' And he said, 'I will 
go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth 
of all his prophets.' And he said, 'Thou shalt 
persuade him, and prevail also. Go forth and 
do so.'" Verse 23: "Now, therefore, behold 
the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth 



"ST* FIKST AND SECOND KINGS. 



of these thy people, thy prophets, and the Lord 
has spoken evil concerning thee." Then fol- 
lows a disconnected harangue of kings, chariots, 
and the reigning of different men, which is tire- 
some. The idea of a lying God, I should think, 
is too ridiculous, even for a priest. 

Second Kings begins with a king inquiring of 
the wrong god (Beelzebub, the god of Ekron), 
and the consequence. 

Chapter 2 is a very remarkable, unreliable, 
miraculous chapter, which tells the story of 
Elijah and Elisha being separated after cross- 
ing Jordan, the waters dividing by a stroke de- 
livered by Elisha with Elijah's mantle. Then 
Elijah went up in a whirlwind. Verse 11: "And 
it came to pass that there appeared a chariot of 
fire and horses of fire, and parted them both 
asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind 
into heaven." The story goes on about what 
Elisha saw and said, and what the people of 
the city said about the water being bad. Elisha 
threw salt in the spring of waters and healed 
the waters. Verse 23: " Little children out of 
the city called him 'Baldhead/ and he cursed 
them in the name of the Lord, and two she- 
bears tore forty-two children of them." This is 
a shocking story, too wicked and improbable to 
believe. Why such stuff is called the word of 
God is too ridiculous for a reasonable mind to 



FIKST AND SECOND KINGS. 99 

understand, so we will leave it to Bible writers 
and priests for explanation. 

Chapter 3 contains more kings, more rebel- 
lion, more prophesying; also, of a king offering 
his own son as a burnt offering in order that the 
siege of a city should be raised. This must have 
been pleasing to the Lord, as the battle ended 
with a victory for the king. 

In chapter 4, Elisha performs the miracle of 
the oil for a woman, and raised her dead son by 
a very lengthy formula that made the dead 
child sneeze seven times and open his eyes. Then 
he fed to their fill a hundred men with twenty 
loaves, of which some were left. 

Chapter 5 relates the miracle of curing the 
Assyrian general, Naaman, by seven washings 
in Jordan. Naaman offered to pay Elisha, but 
he would not receive pay; but his servant fol- 
lowed him and received silver and raiment, 
which displeased Elisha, so he afflicted the serv- 
ant with Naaman 's leprosy— he and his chil- 
dren forever— and he went out a leper as white 
as snow. We of to-day would say this was a 
heavy sentence for receiving a tip. 

Chapter 6 : Elisha goes on from bad to worse. 
He performs the miracle of making iron swim. 
He also struck a whole army blind that was sent 
to capture him. Verse 25: "And there was a 
great famine in Samaria. They besieged it till 

hffl& 



100 FIEST AND SECOND KINGS. 

an ass' head was sold for fourscore pieces of 
silver, and the fourth part of a cap of doves' 
dung for five pieces of silver." Verse 28 : "And 
the king said unto a woman, * What aileth thee ? ' 
And she said, ' Unto me give thy son that we 
may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to- 
morrow. J " 

This wicked prophet had the audacity to say, 
on account of rebellion, God ordered this famine. 
Who would not rebel against such a god and 
such a prophet? Rebellion means someone feels 
oppression. Revolution means, when success- 
ful, relief. It is a harsh measure, but it is a 
blessing in the end. It lessens the power of 
kings; it silences the priests; it reforms and 
makes conscientious judges; it civilizes the sol- 
dier; it educates the people; it improves moral- 
ity ; it uplifts humanity ; it destroys despots who 
slaughter nations (wherever the tyrant is al- 
lowed to breathe, liberty and justice suffocate) ; 
it insures progress ; it advances science and art ; 
it provides for the afflicted; it builds hospitals 
for the sick ; it raises up a home for the orphan ; 
it provides protection for helpless women; it 
insures the same liberty to all citizens; it is the 
mainspring of human society; it acknowledges 
the rights of man granted him by God; it con- 
cedes that morality is the foundation of society, 
and conscience the foundation of human law; it 



FIBST AND SECOND KINGS. 101 

guarantees man the right to serve God according 
to his conscience without having to be dictated to 
by a priest or prophet. God speaks the same to 
all men through their consciences. 

While writing on this subject, I feel that no 
cloud, priest or prophet exists between me and 
God. I feel that I am protected by the provi- 
dence of the God of justice, mercy, and love. But 
I must return to my task of examining the Book 
of Kings, where prophets alone commune with 
the God of the Bible. 

Second Kings, chapter 15, verse 16: "Then 
Henachim, Tiphsah and all that were therein, 
and the coasts thereof, from Tirzah, because 
they opened not to him; therefore, he smote it, 
and all the women that were with child he 
ripped up." (Worse and worse!) 

Chapter 17 has more of kings that provoked 
the Lord. Verse 18: "Therefore, the Lord was 
very angry with Israel, and removed them out 
of his sight. Then was none left but the tribe 
of Judah only." God pursues them, However, 
after he had driven them out of his sight. Verse 
25: "And so it was, at the beginning of their 
dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord; 
therefore, the Lord sent lions among them, which 
slew some of them." Now, it seems that other 
gods have defeated the God of Moses, and got all 
his chosen people. Verse 29: "Howbeit, every 



102 FIBST AND SECOND KINGS. 

nation made gods of their own, and put them 
in the houses of high places.' ' 

Chapter 19: This is a strange, disconnected 
narrative, which is not comprehensible. Isaiah is 
now the prophet "Thus saith the Lord, 'Be not 
afraid of the words of the King of Assyria, who 
hath blasphemed Me.' " Verse 35: "And it 
came to pass, that night, that the angel of the 
Lord went out and smote in the camp of the 
Assyrians an hundred and four score and five 
thousand [185,000], and when they arose early 
in the morning, behold, they were all dead 
corpses. ' ' The idea of corpses rising ! And could 
there be live corpses? 

Chapter 20: "Thus saith the Lord, 'Set their 
house in order, for thou shalt die, and not 
live.' " If he died, how could he live? But 
the Lord changed his mind, and gave him a 
respite of fifteen years. Verse 18: "And thy 
sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt 
beget, shall they take away, and they shall be 
eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon/ * 
Verse 21 : " And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, 
and Manasseh, his son, reigned in his stead." 
This is ridiculous. It has just been said they 
were all eunuchs in Babylon. 

To show that this son that reigned after him 
was born after the above sentence, I quote from 
chapter 21: "Manasseh was twelve years old 



FIBST AND SECOND KINGS. 103 

when lie began to reign." "What sort of in- 
spired writer was this? This king did more in 
the sight of the Lord than any of the others. 
Verse 12: " Therefore, thus saith the Lord, *I 
am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and 
Judah that whoever heareth of it, both his ears 
shall tingle.' " Verse 13: " 'And I will wipe 
Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and 
turning it upside down.' " This is peculiar lan- 
guage for God, and His illustrations are child- 
ish. "Manasseh slept with his fathers, and 
Amon, his son, reigned in his stead." Verse 20: 
"And he did evil in the sight of the Lord." 

I notice, when this writer is relating the acts 
of nearly all the kings, he states: "Now, the 
rest of his acts which he did, are they not writ- 
ten in the Book of Chronicles?" Now, centuries 
passed after what occurred in the Book of Kings 
before Chronicles was written, so this writer, 
whoever he was, must have written Kings after 
Chronicles, and he must have read Chronicles 
to know what was recorded there. Truly, the 
Bible-makers jumble up things greatly. 

There is so much in the remaining chapters, 
I will not write anything concerning them, ex- 
cept to say that they contain an account of the 
captivity of the Jews after they are taken to 
Babylon. The Babylonians took away all that 
was valuable from the Temple. I will proceed 
to Chronicles. 



104 ON BOOKS OF MOSES AND PE0PHET3. 

COMMENTS ON THE BOOKS OF MOSES 
AND THE PROPHETS. 

Before I begin to examine the New Testament, 
I wish to state what I honestly and conscien- 
tiously think of all the books of the prophets 
from Genesis to Malachi. And I want it dis- 
tinctly understood, by anyone who reads this 
book, that, in using the name of God, I do not 
mean the Creator of the Universe, but the god 
of Moses and the prophets; for, as a Deist, I 
would think it an insult to the God I love and 
adore to associate Him in any way with the 
demon of Moses and the prophets. From the 
time he appeared to Moses in the midst of the 
burning bush to the time of the last of his 
prophets, Malachi, this god has been the real 
king, controlling all human events, and using 
Moses and all the prophets and kings as his 
agents. He usurped the right and might of 
chief dictator. He set up kings on the throne, 
and destroyed them not only over the Israelites, 
but the heathen nations as well. In fact, he 
was the king and ruler of the whole of the 
known world at that time. He, according to 
the historical Biblical account, has proved the 
most arrogant, unmerciful, tyrannical of all 
known rulers that the world has any knowledge 
of. From the time of his afflicting Pharaoh and 



ON BOOKS OF MOSES AND PEOPHETS. 105 

the Egyptians with the plagues he showed his 
arrogance by what he called the hardening of 
Pharaoh's heart, so that he could show his 
power, when just one of his miracles — the one 
in which the darkness divided the Israelites and 
the Egyptians— would have enabled the former 
to escape. Then, again, he showed that he was 
wantonly cruel in smiting the first-born of all 
the Egyptians. What harm had the innocent 
babes done? They had not taken any action in 
preventing the escape of the Israelites. Why 
make the whole nation suffer— men, women, in- 
cluding the dumb animals— because he continued 
to cause Pharaoh to refuse to let the Israelites 
go? And, after he and Moses delivered them 
out of the hands of the Egyptians, his treatment 
of the Jews was so cruel that they wished to 
return to bondage as a relief from their suffer- 
ings. They were tortured with thirst, with hun- 
ger, with disease, and the least complaint was 
punished with death. But this god claimed great 
credit for delivering them out of the hands of 
the taskmasters, of which they were reminded 
after being unmercifully punished for some 
slight offense, or complaint to Moses on account 
of his having brought them out to suffer. 

Matters did not mend after they were in pos- 
session of the Promised Land, which was gained 
by the slaughter of a whole nation of helpless 



106 ON BOOKS OF MOSES AND PKOPHETS. 

people, including the women and children, by 
the order of God, through his general, Joshua. 
This god was a very poor judge of men. He 
made very poor selections when he wished to 
raise up a king. They all did wrong in the sight 
of God, and, when they proved a failure, the 
people suffered as a consequence— sometimes by 
famine, sometimes by being slaughtered by other 
kings that the Lord would bring upon them. This 
god would set up another king, who would prove 
worse than his predecessor. Then he and the 
people were: made to suffer because he, too, did 
Wrong in the sight of God. God was the chief 
and only teacher of Moses, but I have not dis- 
covered in the five books ascribed to Moses where 
he was taught anything of the sciences that 
would have been useful to the people. He only 
taught bim a very poor code of law, with the 
exception of the Ten Commandments, which all 
nations necessarily had, because, without them, 
no society could possibly exist. The heathen, 
the barbarians, the idolators, even the American 
Indians and other savages, enforced these laws 
with the exception of those relating to the Sab- 
bath and the worship of other gods. God seemed 
to think it was proper to slay bullocks, rams, 
and other animals for sacrifice ; and to know the 
way to sprinkle their blood, and to prepare the 
burnt offerings, sin offerings, and peace offer- 



ON BOOKS OF MOSES AND PKOPHETS. 107 

ings* was all that was necessary. The knowl- 
edge of astronomy, chemistry, horticulture, 
physiology, and philosophy was unnecessary, so 
these subjects were left out, and Moses* educa- 
tion was limited to the preparation of the differ- 
ent sacrifices and to falling on his face and wor- 
shiping. He was instructed, however, as an 
architect, so as to have the Ark built, which 
proved such a curse, not only to them, but to 
other nations, afterwards. He also left out all 
scientific education to his other prophets. 
Joshua was very ignorant of astronomy, or he 
would have ordered the earth to stop, to pro- 
long the day, so as to have more time to slay 
the helpless Philistines. «,This god never, in all 
of his long reign as supreme governor, did any 
act to cause the people to love him. Every com- 
mand was to excite terror. Every prophecy was 
accompanied by a threat of famine, the plague, 
or fearful slaughter. He at times laid treach- 
erous plans to cause the Israelites to do things 
that were wrong in his sight, so as to show his 
power and make them know that he was the most 
powerful of all gods. Justice and mercy were 
foreign to his nature. He gloried in blood and 
the odor of burning flesh and seeing the people 
falling down on their faces and worshiping when 
the plague or famine ceased. I do not believe 
all the wickedness I have read in these books 



108 ON BOOKS OF MOSES AND PBOPHETS. 

is true. There might have been a tradition that 
the writers of the?e books heard, and they let 
their imagination exaggerate what they heard. 
The reason that nothing of useful knowledge was 
taught was simply because the writers were 
ignorant of such knowledge themselves. God's 
directing Moses or any prophet is only a fabri- 
cation. The only revelation of God to man is 
the great and ever-open book of nature, the 
study of which, by scientific research, has blessed 
and benefited man. 



CHRONICLES. 109 

CHRONICLES. 

Chapter 1 : In reading this chapter I find the 
forty-third verse and the rest of the chapter, 
which has fifty-seven verses, are identically the 
same as the thirty-sixth chapter of Genesis, be- 
ginning at the thirty-first verse, and continuing 
to the end, which has, altogether, forty-three 
verses. How, then, in the name of reason and 
common sense, can the Pope, cardinal, bishop, 
priest, or preacher explain how Moses wrote of 
things that occurred at least eight hundred years 
after he was dead? In Genesis, verse 31, these 
words appear: "Now, these are the kings [giving 
their pedigree] that reigned in the land of 
Edom." Nevertheless, Genesis is alleged to have 
been written eight hundred years before any 
king reigned over the children of Israel. Samuel 
anointed Saul, the first king over Israel. Ac- 
cording to the Bible chronology, it was more 
than eight hundred years after the death of 
Moses that Samuel was born. One may pre- 
tend to tell what will happen in the future, and 
hope to be believed; but, when it comes to tell- 
ing of a man writing after he is dead, it is differ- 
ent. This is not the first time Moses wrote after 
his death. Deuteronomy, chapter 34, gives an 
account of his death and burial. Now, the be- 
lievers, priests and preachers will have to look 



110 CHRONICLES. 



up some other world-maker and author for the 
miraculous stories in Genesis. 

I cannot see anything remarkable to relate 
in the First Book of Chronicles. It is, as its 
name implies, a record of what has been written 
in the other books— a kind of compilation by 
wme writer of what he could get together of 
all the writings and traditions of a thousand 
years or more. 

Second Chronicles, chapter 7, is an exag- 
gerated description of the dedication of the 
House of the Lord. After prayer, the fire came 
down from heaven and consumed the burnt 
offerings, and the glory of the Lord filled the 
house. Verse 2: "And the priests could not 
enter the House of the Lord, because the glory 
of the Lord had filled the Lord's House, and 
when the people saw the fire and the glory they 
v )owed themselves with their faces to the ground 
ind on the pavement, and worshiped and praised 
*';he Lord, for He is good, and His mercy en- 
lureth forever." I cannot see where they had 
my mercy shown them in the past. Verse 5: 
'And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 
twenty and two thousand oxen and an hundred 
and twenty sheep. So the king and all the 
people dedicated the House of the Lord." I 
hope the smell of all this burning flesh was 
sweet savor enough to satisfy this god for some 



CHRONICLES. Ill 



time, and that he would keep his promise to 
Solomon, and not get angry on some frivolous 
account, and send plagues, famines, torrents, 
earthquakes, snakes, scorpions, and destroying 
angels, as he had done before with his other 
favored kings at the start. We shall see how 
long this demonstration of Solomon purchased 
his favor. Solomon would better beware of 
women and other gods, or all this host that have 
fallen on their faces and worshiped God for his 
mercy will suffer. Judging from the past, they 
ought to see that Solomon is prudent. 

In chapter 9 the Queen of Sheba visits him, 
and admires everything very much, as has been 
before recorded. It also gives a full descrip- 
tion of what Solomon did. He made two hun- 
dred targets of beaten gold, and six hundred 
shekels of beaten gold went into each target. 
He made three hundred shields, three hundred 
shekels going into each shield. Moreover, he made 
a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure 
gold. And Solomon slept with his fathers, and 
was buried in the city of David. This writer 
does not record Solomon's seven hundred wives 
and three hundred concubines, and his arousing 
the anger of God, and what followed. I expect 
we will get that when we come to his son's reign. 

The chapters are an account given by this 
writer of the supposed acts of each of the sue- 



112 CHBONICLBa 



ceeding kings after Saul. Most of them went 
wrong in the sight of the Lord, and this writer 
ends the reign of each of them by saying he 
slept with his fathers, and another took his place. 
All of them were smitten by God, or smote each 
other, destroying nations. Most of this will be 
found in the former books, from which, with 
additions, this writer has compiled his narra- 
tive. I notice that some of the kings began to 
reign when children. One was but twelve years, 
and the youngest that I have noticed was Josiah, 
who was eight years old when he began to reign, 
and he reigned thirty-one years. 

Chapter 21 shows that the successor of 
Jehoshaphat (Gehoram) was quite wicked in the 
sight of the Lord. He slew all his brothers with 
the sword, and also the princes of Israel. He 
forced the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit 
fornication, and compelled Judah thereto. Then 
came a writing to him from Elijah, the prophet, 
saying (verse 14) : " Behold, with a great 
plague will the Lord smite thy people and thy 
children and thy wives." Verse 15: "And thou 
shalt have great sickness, by a disease of the 
bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of 
thy sickness." I expect some of these plagues 
were an epidemic of cholera or dysentery that 
occurred from natural causes, and these super- 
stitious, prophet-ridden people thought it was 



CHEONICLES. 113 



sent on them by God on account of the kings not 
pleasing Him. I expect their sanitary meas- 
ures were not the best in their large towns. 

Chapter 36 (the last of Chronicles), verse 16: 
"They mocked the messengers of God, and 
despised his words, and abused his prophets, 
until the wrath of the Lord arose against his 
people till there was no remedy.' ' Verse 17: 
"Therefore, he brought upon their king the 
King of the Chaldeans, who had no compassion 
on the old men nor the maidens. He gave them 
all into his hand. He took all the: treasures of 
the king and princes and brought them to Baby- 
lon." Verse 19: "And be burnt the House of 
God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and 
burned all the palaces with fire. All who es- 
caped the sword he carried away to Babylon, 
where they were servants." Chronicles is not 
interesting, because it is a recapitulation of what 
had been written at greater length by former 
writers; but we can directly see that the writer 
of Chronicles is a different person from the 
writers of the other books. 



114 ESTHEE AND JOB. 

ON THE BOOKS OF ESTHER AND JOB. 

I have read carefully the short Book of 
Esther. Why the Seventy voted it to be the 
word of God, I cannot for a single reason see. 
It is a story of the strategy of a shrewd man 
to have his niece succeed in being chosen queen 
in place of Vashti, and through her to gain fa- 
vor with the king for his own advancement 
After gaining favor, he showed the characteris- 
tic cruelty that had been practiced by the Jews 
for ages, by hanging Haaman's innocent sons 
because of his hatred for their father. Surely, 
there is neither moral justice nor anything else 
in the worthless tale to recommend it as the 
word of God. The whole of the tale is con- 
temptible and indecent, to say the least of it. 
It further shows, if there is any truth in the 
narrative, that Esther was anything but a mod- 
est woman, and modesty is the most admired of 
all the traits in a woman's character. 

The Book of Job starts off chapter 1 by de- 
scribing his household. He had seven sons and 
three daughters, three thousand camels and 
seven thousand sheep, five hundred yoke of 
oxen, five hundred she asses, so he was the great- 
est man in the East. 

His Satanic Majesty, who had been quiet 
for some time, now appears on the scene. I 



ESTHER AND JOB. 115 

suppose he is the same one that monkeyed with 
Eve in the Garden of Eden, and persuaded her 
to eat the apple and get herself and Adam 
ejected, thereby incurring a curse which has 
been, and will be, transmitted to every genera- 
tion. I will have to quote a few verses to show 
how abruptly the writer introduces him, and 
how he is received by God. Verse 6: "Now, 
there was a day when the sons of God came to 
present themselves before the Lord; and Satan 
came also among them." Verse 7: "And the 
Lord said unto Satan, '"Whence comest thou?' 
Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, 'From 
going to and fro in the earth, and walking up 
and down in it. ' And the Lord said unto Satan, 
'Hast thou considered my servant Job, that 
there is none like him in the earth, a perfect 
and an upright man, one that feareth God and 
escheweth all evil?' " Verse 9: "Then Satan 
answered the Lord, and said, 'Doth Job fear 
God for naught?' " (I notice that the fear of 
the people is what this god seems to desire; not 
love. In every instance it is: Do they fear 
the Lord? In not one: Do they love the Lord?) 
Then, according to the legend, for it is noth- 
ing more than a legendary composition, like 
those some operas are founded on, the Lord and 
Satan had a conversation on Job's case. Satan 
told God that Job had been so favored in every 



116 ESTHER AND JOB. 

way that he had no reason to fear God. Had 
God not given to him beautiful daughters and 
obedient sons? Ought he not to be contented 
with nothing to worry him in the least? Then, 
I suppose, Satan said in a daring way to God: 
"Now, put forth Thy hand and touch what he 
has, and he will curse Thee to Thy face. ,, I ex- 
pect God had forgotten that Satan had defeated 
Him in their previous encounters. Therefore, 
He turned Job's possessions over to Satan with 
the understanding that he should not! touch 
Job's person in any way. iSatan left the Lord 
and proceeded to operate on Job. So, while 
Job was present at a banquet at his eldest son's 
house, eating and drinking, a messenger came 
and told him that the Labeans had slain all his 
servants, he (the messenger) alone escaping, and 
had taken away his oxen and all his sons. Then 
came another messenger with the news that the 
fire of the Lord had fallen on his sheep and 
servants, and destroyed them. Messengers con- 
tinued to come till all his property was taken 
from him, and then, to wind up, another messen- 
ger came with the news of a storm which killed 
all his children. Verse 20: "And Job arose, 
and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and 
fell down upon the ground, and worshiped." 
Verse 21: "And said: 'Naked I came out of my 
mother's womb, and naked shall I return 



ESTHER AND JOB. 117 

1 - 'i 

thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath 
taken away— blessed be the name of the Lord.' " 

Chapter 2: Satan again presents himself to 
God, and a similar conversation to- the one in 
the former meeting takes place: "Thou movest 
Me to destroy him without cause, and he holds 
fast his integrity." Verse 4: "And Satan an- 
swered the Lord, and said, 'Skin for skin — 
yea, all that a man hath, he will give for his 
life.' " Verse 5: " 'But put forth Thine hand 
now, and touch his flesh, and he will curse Thee 
to Thy face.' " Verse 6: "And the Lord said 
unto Satan, 'Behold, he is in thine hand, but 
save his life. ' So Satan smote Job with sore 
boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of 
his head." Verse 7: "Then his wife said, 'Dost 
thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and 
die.' " Job told her she spoke like a foolish 
woman. "'Shall we not receive good at the hand 
of God, and shall we not receive evil?" His 
sufferings were great, and in his lament he said 
many things, regretting he still lived to experi- 
ence them. Verse 8: "Why did I issue from 
the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost 
when I came out of the belly? Then I should 
be at rest. The small and great are there, and 
the servant is free from his master." 

Job makes excuse for his desire to die. Chap- 
ter 7, verse 5: "My flesh is clothed with worms 



118 ESTHEE AND JOB. 

and clods of dust. My skin is broken and be- 
come loathsome.' ' Job inquires what were bis 
sins: " Wherefore, hidest thou Thy face, and 
hold me for Thine enemy V 9 The Book of Job 
is nearly filled with allegories, fables, or para- 
bles. Their meaning is vague, if they have any. 
I quote, to illustrate, a verse or two. Chapter 
40, verse 15: " Behold the behemoth, which I 
made with thee. He eateth grass like an ox." 
Verse 16: "Lo, now, his strength is in his 
loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. * ' 
What is a behemoth? It seems he is a person, 
but the name does not begin with a capital let- 
ter, as is, we find before, usual with names. The 
book is filled with incomprehensible passages, 
yet Job has a better idea of the infinity of God 
than all the other writers before him. He recog- 
nizes the unknowable power and wisdom of God. 
At the winding up, God gives him double of 
what he had before, and gives him better chil- 
dren and more beautiful daughters than he had 
had. 

Now, what a strange as well as very wicked 
character this writer of Job makes of God, who 
allows Himself to be intimate with Satan; and, 
to convince the devil that Job was a good man, 
placed him in the power of Satan to test his 
integrity in the most cruel manner, and al- 
lowed seven men and three women, who were 



ESTHEE AND JOB. 119 

innocent, to be slain suddenly without the 
benefit of clergy. How can anyone for a mo- 
ment believe this absurd story to be the word 
of the true God ? I, as a believer and a simple 
Deist, do not believe it, and detest it as I do 
everything that is cruel and unjust. I am 
grateful to God that I do not believe this, or 
any part of this book called the Bible, to be the, 
word of God. It is more like the word of a 
demon, as we see him pictured in " Faust.' ' The 
author of the Book of Job, whoever he was, is 
contemptible in the eyes of a Deist or believer 
in the true God of the Universe. The author of 
the Book of Job introduces Satan on an equality 
with God, who allows himself to be induced to 
subject Job, one of his favored men, to the most 
cruel and inhuman trials that this fiend, called 
"Satan," could suggest, in order to satisfy him 
that Job was a good, patient man. He allows 
Satan to suggest the punishment to which Job 
is to be subjected, in order to convince the for- 
mer that Job was faithful. This writer has 
placed the Creator of the Universe on an inti- 
mate equality with Satan, the opposite to any- 
thing good, the personator of all evil. Then 
he pretends that God, the author of all that is 
just and good, allowed Satan to persuade Him 
to subject Job to the most inhuman tests sug- 
gested by Satan in order to convince the latter 



120 EfeiHEE AND JOB. 

that Job was patient, and would, notwithstand- 
ing his fearful punishment, still have faith in 
God. The idea is too absurd to be for a moment 
entertained by anyone that has the least idea of 
the justice, mercy, and love of the God who 
created the universe. The idea of calling such 
ridiculous stuff the word of God is both con- 
temptible and absurd, to say the least of it. But 
how can anyone wonder at what we read in this 
so-called word of God, when we see, among the 
Ten Commandments written on the tablets of 
stone handed to Moses, the words, "Thou shalt 
do no murder," while, nevertheless, the whole 
book is filled with murders of men, women, and 
innocent children. Then : ' ' Thou shalt not com- 
mit adultery. ' ' Yet, we not only find adultery, 
but incest. Again: "Thou shalt not steal." 
Still, God commanded the Israelites to spoil the 
Egyptians of their jewels, gold, and precious 
stones. Again: "Thou shalt not covet thy 
neighbor's wife." Notwithstanding, David not 
only seduced Uriah's wife, but, to cover up the 
crime from the people, had him take a letter to 
Moab, which caused Moab to slay him. Of 
course, David being a man after God's own 
heart, God let him off lightly. Then the order 
from God to Moses, that the Israelites should 
not intermarry with other nations, as if God 
did not make them. If they were not intended 



ESTHJiiB AND JOB. 121 

to replenish the world, they should not have 
been created at all. This god, it seems, only 
cared for the Israelites. The rest he turned over 
to the devil and the sword. Strange god, indeed ! 



122 PSALMS, PROVERBS, ETC. 

PSALMS, PROVERBS, THE SONGS OF 
SOLOMON. 

Why the Psalms of David are addressed to 
the chief musician, and who is the chief musi- 
cian, I do not know. Some of them are com- 
plaints to, and asking help from, God. Some 
are praising and blessing God. Some are giv- 
ing thanks. Some of them are worded so that 
the meaning is hidden in such a way that we 
cannot see what the writer is driving at. Some 
of them are curses, such as: "0 daughter of 
Babylon ! who art to be destroyed. Happy shall 
be he that rewardeth thee as thou hath served us ! 
Happy shall be he that taketh and dasheth thy 
little ones against the stones !" Some of them 
call on animate and inanimate things to praise 
God, such as the following: "Praise Him, ye 
sun and moon! Praise Him, all ye stars! Praise 
Him, ye heaven of heavens, and ye waters that 
be above the heavens ! Praise Him, mountains and 
all hills ; fruitful trees and all cedars ; beasts and 
all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl!" 
Language such as this is nonsense! Again: "Let 
the high praises of God be in their mouth, and 
a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute 
vengeance upon the heathen and punishments 
upon the people ; to bind their kings with chains 
and their nobles with fetters of iron." 



PSALMB> PROVERBS, ETC. 123 

Proverbs seem to be divided between advice, 
persuasion, and exhortation. I have read them 
all, and can find nothing to compare with what 
we have in a great many works of authors of 
our day, such as Benjamin Franklin, Emerson, 
and many others, for beauty of language and 
morality. Why the Psalms of David, the 
Proverbs of Solomon and the voluptuous song 
of a broken-down man, whose life is anything 
but moral, should be called the word of God, 
the preachers will have to explain. I notice one 
of the first acts of this wisest of all men after 
becoming king, and for which he obtained great 
praise from his people, both as very wise and 
very just, was to tell which was the real mother 
of a child claimed by two women. He ordered 
that the child be split open, dividing it in equal 
parts, and giving each claimant a part. Now, 
any person with very ordinary sense would 
know the real mother would rather her enemy 
had the care of her child than to see it butch- 
ered before her eyes. iSolomon, to this day, has 
the reputation of being the wisest man the 
world has ever produced, because the Bible says 
so, and, it being the word of God, must be so. 
I look on him, from what I read in the Bible, 
if he is the author, as being a very ignorant man 
compared to the philosophers of our day. Should 
the seventh chapter of Proverbs be printed in 



124 PSALMS, PROVERBS, ETC. 

one of our popular school-books, it would not be 
allowed in any public school. A great many il- 
lustrations are both poor and obscene. Take 
the Proverbs, no matter by whom written, the 
world would be as well or better off had they 
never been written at all. 



ECCLESIASTES. 126 

ECCLESIASTES, OR THE PREACHERS. 

I find nothing in this book worthy of notice. 
There are some very absurd sayings, such as 
(chapter 1, verse 10) : "Is there anything 
whereof it may be said, 'See, this is new?' It 
hath been already of old time, which was be- 
fore." Verse 14: "I have seen all the works 
that are done under the sun, and, behold, all 
is vanity and vexation of spirit." Verse 16: 
"That which is crooked cannot be made 
straight, and that which is wanting cannot be 
numbered." Verse 18: "For in much wis- 
dom is much power, and he that in- 
creaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." Answer: 
We straighten a great many crooked things. 
The telephone is new to us; so is the electric 
light. We think knowledge is a blessing; and, 
if he had understood a little philosophy, he 
would have had more natural sense, which is the 
best sense. 

The song of Solomon, if it could be called a 
song, is a disconnected harangue, alluding to 
the Church ; then to Christ ; then to woman and 
her voluptuous charms. 

Chapter 1, verse 9: "I compare thee, my 
love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's 
chariot." (Fudge!) Verse 13: "A bundle of 
myrrh is my well-beloved unto me. He shall 



126 ECCLESIASTES. 

lie all night betwixt my breasts." Verse 15: 
"Behold, thou art fair, my love! Behold, thou 
art fair! Thou hast dove's eyes!" Chapter 2, 
verse 2 : "As the lily among thorns, so is my love 
among the daughters of men." 

The most ridiculous of all is chapter 7, which 
is claimed to mean the Church, though it only 
expresses desire. Verse 1: "How beautiful are 
thy feet with shoes, prince's daughter! The 
joints of thy thighs are like jewels ; the work of 
thy hands, of a cunning workman." Verse 2: 
■ ' Thy navel is like a round goblet which wanteth 
not liquor; thy belly is like an heap of wheat 
set about with lilies." Verse 3: "Thy two 
breasts are like two young roes that are twins." 
Such stuff may well come from a man who is 
worn out by debauching a thousand women, and 
whose mind is becoming weakened by sexual 
abuse or masturbation. Why it is called the 
Church's desire I do not know. I am at a loss 
to say anything but "Fudge!" 



JUDGES, KUTH, AND SAMUEL. 127 

JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL. 

Judges is a continuation of conquest, and the 
Children of Israel continuing to do evil in the 
sight of the Lord, and the consequences. It 
contains an account of the birth of 'Samson and 
his episodes with the harlot. 

Chapter 15, verse 15: "And he found a new 
jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand and 
took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.' ' 
After this exercise he was very thirsty, and 
called on the Lord. Verse 19: "But God clave 
an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there 
came water thereout, and when he had drank he 
revived." Verse 20: "And he judged Israel 
in the days of the Philistines twenty years." He 
went to Gaza and had an episode with a harlot. 
When he was surrounded with intent to kill him, 
he took the gate of the city with two posts and 
made his escape with them. "And it came to 
pass, afterwards, that he loved a woman named 
Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines per- 
suaded and bribed her to find out wherein lay 
his great strength." He deceived her three 
times, but the fourth time he told the truth. 
And he was taken by his enemies, who put out 
his eyes. He afterwards regained his strength 
when his hair grew, and threw the house down 
and slew many Philistines and himself. 



128 JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL. 

Chapter 31, verse 25: "In those days there 
was no king in Israel. Every man did that 
which was right in his own eyes/* 

The Book of Ruth has only four chapters. 
It is a poorly-written story— a kind of romance 
— in which Ruth, a widow, crept to bed with 
her cousin Boaz, who afterwards married her. 
Why this little story was voted by the Seventy 
to be the word of God I cannot see; but there 
is no wickedness or cruelty in it, which is more 
than can be said of the Books of Moses, Joshua, 
Numbers, and Judges. 

The Book of First Samuel, chapter 1, gives 
the origin of Samuel. Hannah, his mother, had 
had no children because God had shut up her 
womb. She made a vow unto the Lord that, if 
he would give her a man-child, she would give 
him to the Lord all the days of his life; Her 
petition was granted, and Samuel was born to 
her. 

Chapter 3 shows the manner in which the 
word of the Lord was revealed to Samuel. 
Verse 3: "And Samuel laid down to sleep.' ' 
Yerse 4: "And the Lord called, 'Samuel!' And 
he answered, 'Here am I.' " Yerse 5: "And he 
ran unto Eli, thinking he had called. ' ' Eli told 
him he did not call, so he laid down again. The 
Lord called again. This was repeated the third 
time before Eli realized the Lord had called the 



JUDGES, BUTH, AND SAMUE1/. 129 

child. Samuel became known as a prophet all 
through Israel. 

Chapter 4 begins with a battle with the Philis- 
tines, in which the Ark of God is captured. 
When a messenger told Eli the Ark was taken, 
he fell backwards and broke his neck. 

Chapter 5 : The Philistines took the Ark and 
set it up by Dagon, and when they arose the 
next morning Dagon had fallen upon his face, 
and they took Dagon and set him in his place 
again. The next morning Dagon had fallen be- 
fore the Ark, and both his hand and his head 
were cut off, and only the stump of Dagon was 
left. Yerse 4: "He smote the men of the city, 
both small and great, and they had emeroids 
in their secret parts." They then sent the Ark 
to Ekdon, and the hand of the Lord was very 
heavy then, and the men that died not were 
smitten with the emeroids, and the cry of the 
people went up to heaven. 

Chapter 6 describes how they returned the 
Ark with trespass offering of gold emeroids and 
gold mice. 

"And He smote the men because they looked 
into the Ark of the Lord ; even He smote of the 
people fifty thousand and three score and ten." 
This is harsh penalty for a look; but we have 
seen, when this revengeful god gets angry, it 
takes the sacrifice of many lives to gratify him. 



130 JUDGES, EUTH, AND SAMUEL. 

It seems the further nations were from that 
god and his ark the better off they were. 

Chapter 8: The people demanded a. king to 
rule over them, and the Lord said to Samuel: 
" Hearken unto them, and make them a king." 
Verse 15: "Now, the Lord had told Samuel in 
his ear [Where else could he have told him?] 
the day before Saul came." Verse 17: "And 
when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said unto him, 
* Behold the man of whom I spake to thee— this 
same shall reign over my people.' " Samuel 
feasted him and his servant. 

Chapter 10: "Then Samuel took a vial of oil 
and poured it upon his head, and kissed him." 
The rest of this chapter is taken up with direc- 
tions from Samuel to Saul respecting what he 
should do and how he should act. 

Chapter 11: The people acknowledge Saul 
and make sacrifices of peace offerings before 
the Lord. Saul is the first king over Israel, 
Moses having been dead about eight hundred 
years when Saul was made king. Yet Moses 
spoke of the kings over Israel in the Book of 
Genesis. This is positive proof that the writer 
of Genesis must have lived after more than one 
king reigned over Israel. Therefore, the five 
Books of Moses are nothing more than a fabri- 
cation by some writer unknown, and the whole 
narrative is imaginary and false. 



JUDGES, KUTH, AND SAMUEL. 131 

Chapter 14 : Jonathan, the son of Saul, is 
introduced, his exploits, with his armour, being 
similar to those of Don Quixote and his man, 
Sancho Panza. There is a battle, in which the 
Philistines are beaten and robbed. Then the 
family of Saul is given (two sons and two 
daughters), and soon there was war against 
the Philistines all the days of Saul. 

Chapter 15: Another whole nation is ordered 
to be butchered. Verse 3: "Now, go and smite 
Amelek, and utterly destroy all that they have, 
and spare them not, but slay both man and 
woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel 
and ass." Verse 9: "But Saul and the people 
spared Agog and the best of the sheep and the 
oxen, and the fatlings, and all that was good." 
Verse 10: "Then came the word of the Lord 
unto Samuel, saying (verse 11), 'It repenteth 
Me that I have set up Saul to be king. ' ' ' There 
are a number of verses of what Samuel said 
unto Saul, and Saul said unto Samuel. It ended, 
however, in Samuel telling Saul that the Lord 
had rent the kingdom from him and given it to 
a neighbor of his who was better than he. Verse 
29: "And also the strength of Israel will not 
lie, or repent, for he is not a man that he should 
repent." He has just said, in verse 11, that 
he repented that he had set Saul up as king. 
I notice this God of Israel is both inconsistent 



132 JUDGES, EUTH, AND SAMUEL. 

and capricious throughout all the books I have 
examined. 

Chapter 16: God sent Samuel ostensibly to 
make sacrifice at Bethlehem, but in reality to 
make a king. Verse 1 : " Fill thy horn with oil, 
and go to Jesse. I have provided me a king 
among his sons. ' ' God, it seems, had to be cau- 
tious, and keep his plans secret, for fear Saul 
would checkmate him. Verse 2: ''And Samuel 
said, 'How can I go? If Saul hear it he will 
kill me.' And the Lord said, 'Take an heifer 
with thee, and say, "I am come to sacrifice to 
the Lord." ' " After Samuel had sanctified 
Jesse and his sons, Jesse made his sons to pass 
by Samuel one at a time. After seven had passed 
before Samuel, he said unto Jesse: "The Lord 
hath not chosen these. Are these all thy chil- 
dren? " Jesse said the youngest was with the 
sheep. Verse 12: "And he sent and brought 
him in. Now, he was ruddy and withal of a 
beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. 
And the Lord said, 'Arise, anoint him; this is 
he.' " This Lord had an evil spirit. It may 
seem strange, but it is so stated. Verse 14: 
"And an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him 
[Saul]." Saul, after being persuaded, sent for 
a musician. David was sent for and came. Then 
the writer imitates writers of fiction, and David 
is made the hero. The writer introduces Go- 



JUDGES, BUTH, AND SAMUEL. 133 

liath of Gath, whom he describes: "Height, six 
cubits and a span ; and he had an helmet on his 
head, was armed with a coat of mail, and the 
weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of 
brass. He had brass on his legs and a target 
of brass between his shoulders. The staff of his 
spear was like a weaver's beam. His spear- 
head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. ' ' This 
Goliath defied SauFs army from day to day 
for forty days. I only take the gist of the story. 
Anyone can turn to the Book of Samuel and 
read the whole account. 

Saul, being humiliated by what was being 
done, offered a reward of great riches and his 
claughter to anyone who would kill Goliath. 
Our hero accepted the offer after a dialogue with 
several, and being ridiculed by his eldest 
brother. His words were repeated to Saul, who 
sent for him. Saul doubted his ability to fight 
with the giant. David then, to assure Saul, 
told him the story of a lion and a bear that took 
a lamb out of the flock. David's heroic en- 
counter (chapter 35, verse 37) : "And I went 
out after him, and smote him, and delivered it 
out of his mouth, and when he arose against me 
I caught him by his beard and smote him, and 
slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and 
the bear." This gave Saul confidence, and he 
said, "Go." Saul armed him, but the armor did 



134 JUDGES, EUTH, AND SAMUEL. 

not suit David, and he put it off, and took his 
staff and five smooth stones with his sling in 
his hand, and he drew near to the Philistines. 
There was a little bragging done. Then our 
hero put his hand in his bag and took a stone, 
and threw it from his sling. It smote the 
giant in the forehead, and the stone was buried 
in his head, and he fell on his face. David 
took the giant's sword and decapitated him, and 
took his head to Saul. 

Saul lost favor with his god, like all the other 
special favorites. This god is certainly the most 
vain, jealous, arrogant character I ever read of. 
Moses forgot to say the name of God when he 
smote the rock and brought forth water. This 
was an inexcusable crime ; but, when he got mad 
and threw down the tablets, God gave him new 
ones. This god added envy to his other grievous 
faults. He makes many laws to prevent his 
people from marrying or having intimate deal- 
ings with other peoples, for fear of their being 
enticed by them to take after their gods. This 
god seems not to have the least concern for any 
nation or people, except the one he took out of 
Egypt, and with whom he remains and makes 
plots to show his power. He began with the 
hardening of Pharaoh's heart that he might 
bring all the plagues and signs and suffering on 
the people to make them remember his greatness. 



JUDGES, BUTH, AND SAMUEL. 135 

This god does not seem to can© about other na- 
tions having other gods, if he can (using the 
cant phrase) make it come to pass that he can 
show himself greater than they. The wicked 
part is that both his people and others suffer in 
order that he may show his greatness. He de- 
lights in the destruction of other nations, though 
he claims to be the creator of them all. He 
caused much trouble with his ark by allowing 
the Philistines to capture it. His people had a 
hard time because it was not with them, and 
the others met with much trouble because it 
was with them. But God had the satisfaction 
of making their god fall down on its face, and 
again, after being set up, fall down and break 
off its arms and head, leaving nothing but a 
stump; therefore, much was gained. The peo- 
ple thought the God of Israel was greater than 
their god, and their greatest desire was to re- 
move the Ark back to the favored people, as it 
had been a curse to them. 

He now takes David for his favorite on ac- 
count of his comely looks, and his showing his 
power by slaying the bear and lion, taking them 
by the beard and smiting them. I suppose they 
had beards in those days. "And it came to pass 
that he smote Goliath in the forehead with a 
stone, and he fell on his face. ' ' But, after this, 
God has much trouble, and the people more 



136 JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL. 

suffering, in order to establish David on the 
throne. David, like the rest, will fail to do him 
honor enough, and lose favor, too. We will see 
what we will see. 

Here David and Jonathan meet and become 
great friends, which friendship lasts through- 
out their lives. The story of their mutual 
friendship is a beautiful and brotherly attach- 
ment, which exemplified real, disinterested 
friendship. It is similar to that of a secret 
order, originating from the legend of Damon 
and Pythias, which is becoming quite popular, 
and is a success throughout the United States. 

Chapter 28 : Saul took David and would not 
let him go home to his father. Saul was, like 
his god, proud, arrogant, and jealous because of 
David 's popularity. When David returned 
after slaughtering the Philistines, the women 
met him singing, saying: "Saul has slain his 
thousands; David, his ten thousands." Saul 
became angry. Verse 9: "And Saul eyed David 
from that day and forward. Michal, Saul's 
daughter, loved David. When Saul heard it 
he was pleased. 'I will give her to him. She 
will be a snare to him.' " Saul's treachery 
(verse 22) : "And Saul commanded his serv- 
ants to say to David in secret, 'Behold, the king 
hath delight in thee, and all his servants love 
thee; now, therefore, be the king's son-in-law.' " 



JUDGES, EUTH, AND SAMUEL. 137 

Verse 25: "And Saul said: "Thus shalt you say 
to David, "The king desires not any dowry, but 
an hundred foreskins of the Philistines. ' ' ' " 
Saul thought David would get slain by the Philis- 
tines. David took his men and slew two hun- 
dred men and brought their foreskins and gave 
them to the king. Saul gave him his daughter, 
but continued to be David's enemy, and sought 
to kill him, but was deceived by David's wife, 
who let him down out of a window, and put an 
image in the bed with a pillow of goat's hair, 
and covered it with a cloth, so David escaped 
and fled to Samuel. Saul then sent men to take 
David, but, they prophesying, he sent others, 
and they prophesied also. Then Saul went to 
Ramah. Verse 24: "And he stripped off his 
clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in 
like manner, and lay down naked all that day 
and all that night. " I am at a loss here to con- 
ceive what is meant by prophesying. I thought 
it meant to foretell events. 

Chapter 19: "And Saul spake to Jonathan, 
his son, and to all his servants, that they should 
kill David." Jonathan told David his father 
was determined to kill him. Jonathan and 
David had a secret understanding, so as to 
warn him. Everyone who has read the story of 
the arrows will remember it. I am not writing 
of Saul or David, but of what comes directly 



138 JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL. 

from their god. However, I will relate the witch 
story, for it could not have been written by 
anyone but some superstitious person who be- 
lieved in ghosts: "And Samuel having died, 
Saul wished to inquire of him his own fate." 
Chapter 28, verse 2: "And when the woman 
saw Samuel she cried out, 'Thou hast deceived 
me; thou art Saul.' " Saul then had a com- 
munication with the ghost of Samuel. The 
ghost story does not amount to anything, as we 
do not believe in them, but we are told this in 
the Book of Samuel. The account of Samuel's 
death is given in the twenty-fifth chapter. Who 
wrote the remaining seven chapters in the same 
style and diction? Samuel could not have 
finished his book after his death, and the story 
of his own ghost, too. 



SECOND SAMUEL. 139 

ON SECOND SAMUEL. 

I cannot find even the pretended author for 
this book. It is called " Second Samuel, " but 
he could not have had any part in writing it, 
for he was dead before the first book was 
finished. The style is much the same, and must 
have been written, no telling by whom, from 
traditions, collected from time to time among 
the Jews. David calls on the Lord to know 
when and how to smite the kings and people. 
After war ceased between the followers of 
Saul's house and the house of David, Moab, 
Uriah and other generals of Saul were given to 
David for the purpose of helping him to destroy 
the Philistines, with whom there was continuous 
war. 

Chapter 11 : David, the man that God claimed 
to be a man after his own heart, proved to be 
equal to Moses or Joshua as a smiter of na- 
tions—men, women, and children. In some re- 
spects he was an unscrupulous scoundrel. To 
use a more suitable expression, he was pusillani- 
mous in the extreme. He saw from the top of 
his house a woman bathing. She was very beau- 
tiful. David sent messengers after her and de- 
bauched her. Verse 10: "And the woman con- 
ceived, and sent and told David, 'I am with 
child. ' " David, to shield the woman, sent to 



140 SECOND SAMUEL. 

Joab and ordered him to tell Uriah, the hus- 
band of the woman, that the king wished to see 
him. When Uriah presented himself, David 
questioned him as to how Moab and the people 
did, and how the war progressed. He then dis- 
missed Uriah and sent him to his house, followed 
by a mess of meat. Uriah, I expect, being sus- 
picious, did not go to his house, but slept all 
night at the king's door with the king's serv- 
ants, and when David heard Uriah did not go 
to his house he inquired of him why he had not 
done so. Uriah said that all he desired was a 
tent. Joab and the men with him were camped 
in the field. He would not enjoy the comforts 
of home, and said, "I will not do this thing." 
David told him to remain that day and the next 
He made him drunk, but still Uriah did not go 
to his house. "And it came to pass that David 
wrote a letter and sent it to Joab by Uriah." 
Verse 15: "And he wrote in the letter, saying, 
'Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest 
battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be 
smitten and die.' " It came to pass that things 
turned out as David wished. Uriah was slain 
and David got his wife. 

God had a man named Nathan who acted as a 
messenger between him and David. God did not 
like the way David behaved towards Uriah, and 
sent Nathan to rebuke him. Nathan tells David 
the parable of the ewe lamb. 



SECOND SAMUEL. 141 

Chapter 12: "And the Lord told David that 
the sword should not pass from his house." 
Verse 11: "Behold, I will raise up evil against 
thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy 
wives before thine eyes and give them to thy 
neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the 
sight of this sun." Verse 12: "Thou didst it 
secretly, but I will do this thing before all 
Israel." Verse 13: "And Nathan said unto 
David, 'The Lord hath put away thy sin; thou 
shalt not die.' " God struck the child by Uriah's 
wife, and it was very sick. David fasted and 
lay all night on the ground and besought God 
for the child; but God would not relent, and 
the child died, God seems to think this one 
life of a child is sufficient to atone for the sin 
committed by David, while for very slight 
offenses whole cities— men, women, and children 
— have been destroyed and murdered. 

This god delights in smiting, slaying, robbing, 
putting to the sword, raping, and committing 
adultery, turning serpents and hornets on peo- 
ple, offering sacrifices of blood and smelling 
burning flesh. He created nations to make them 
fight and destroy each other. His only object 
was to convince the people that he was very 
great, and much greater than the other gods. 
For a very slight offense,. such as not slaying a 
bullock in exactly the right way, or sprinkling 



142 SECOND SAMUEL. 

the blood in the proper place around the Ark, 
he would cause the earth to split open and 
swallow many of those he called his chosen peo- 
ple, whom he had brought out of Egypt. I 
knew the Bible was a very wicked book, but I 
find on examination it is much worse than I 
thought. 

Chapter 13 is taken up with the rape of Tama 
by her incestuous half-brother, Ammon. After 
the rape was committed he drove her off. Then 
she went to her brother, Absalom, who hated 
Ammon, and had him slain by his servants two 
years after he raped his sister. 

Chapter 12, verse 31, I quote to show that 
David was very cruel: "And he brought forth 
the people that were within [meaning the city] . 
He took and put them under saws and harrows 
of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them 
pass through the brick kiln, and thus he did unto 
all the children of Ammon." Such act was not 
a sin in the sight of his god. 

Absalom, the incestuous son of David, after 
gaining favor with David, entered into a con- 
spiracy to seize the government and overthrow 
his father, and raised an army. The king, hear- 
ing of it, fled, leaving ten of his concubines to 
keep the house. Absalom had a battle with the 
followers of David in a wood. He rode on a 
mule. The mule went under an oak, and the 



SECOND iSAlMUEL. 143 

limbs of the oak got tangled in his hair. The 
mule passed on, leaving him hanging by his hair, 
when Joab smote him and slew him. Twenty 
thousand persons fell on account of this re- 
bellion of Absalom. 

Chapter 20 is a story of David's imprison- 
ing the ten concubines the rest of their lives, 
and of David's appointing officers. 

Chapter 21 relates the famine of three years, 
and David inquiring of the Lord the cause. "And 
the Lord answered, 'It is for Saul and for his 
bloody house, because he slew the Gideonites.' " 
And David asked the Gideonites what he should 
do to atone for what Saul had done to them, 
and they said to give them seven sons of Saul, 
that they might hang them. David complied, 
and they were hanged. Here, again, the inno- 
cent are made to suffer for the sins of others, 
to appease the whimsical anger of this god. 

Chapter 24: "And again the: anger of God 
was kindled against Israel because David was 
tempted by Satan to number the people.*' Verse 
11: "The word of the Lord came unto the 
prophet Gad, David's seer, saying [verse 12] 
[God's word to David] : 'I offer thee three 
things. Choose, thee, one of them, that I may do 
it unto thee. 'Shall seven years of famine come 
unto thee in thy land or wilt thou flee three 
months before thine enemies while they pursue 



144 SECOND SAMUEL. 

thee, or that there be three days' pestilence in 
thy land?' " Verse 14: "And David said nnto 
God: 'I am in a great strait. Let ns now fall 
into the hand of the Lord, for His enemies are 
great.' And the angel of the Lord stretched out 
his hand, and there died of the people seventy 
thousand persons, and the Lord repented Him of 
the evil." So, after building an altar and slay- 
ing some oxen, and making burnt offerings, the 
plague was stayed, and David was forgiven of 
the great crime of having counted the people. 
Seventy thousand perished because they were 
numbered. 

This god gets more horrible as I proceed. The 
guilty party is always forgiven after the Lord 
plays havoc among the helpless people. I am 
glad that I do not believe what I have read in 
this book, and feel that it is not true, for, did I 
believe it, such wickedness would shock my feel- 
ings as a man and shake my faith in the jus- 
tice, mercy, and love of the one true, beneficent, 
and generous God, who has created the universe 
and all that is therein, and provided abundantly 
for their support and comfort. God is in no 
way partial to any of his people, for they are 
the children of his creation, and he gives to the 
ungrateful as well as the grateful with the same 
liberality; and, to please God, we only have 
to be grateful for the blessings he has bestowed 



SECOND SAMUEL. 145 

on us, and be kind to his other children. When 
we feel that we can commit no sin against God 
unless we willfully injure our fellow-man, or 
are wantonly cruel to some living creature, then 
we have no reason to fear Him, but can safely 
commit our souls, or spirits, to his care; for, if 
God has the power to create us, He certainly 
has the power to take care of us— in what man- 
ner we need not have a care about. His ways 
and his natural laws are the same and unchange- 
able. 



146 ISAIAH. 



ISAIAH THE PROPHET. 

After reading the whole Book of Isaiah, I am 
astonished that people can so construe what is 
written by this writer as for a moment to be de- 
luded into believing that it has anything to do 
with the coming of Christ. The interpolators 
of the Bible have a note at the head of each 
chapter, like the following, to delude the reader : 
Chapter 2: ''Isaiah prophesieth the coming of 
Christ." Chapter 2, verse 1: "The word that 
Isaiah, the son of Amog, said concerning Judah 
and Jerusalem." Verse 2: "And it shall come 
to pass, in the last days, that the mountain of 
the Lord's house shall be established in the top 
of mountains, and shall be exalted above the 
hills, and all the nations shall flee unto it." 

Chapter 4: "Christ's kingdom shall be a 
sanctuary." Verse 1: "And in that day seven 
women shall take hold of one man, saying, '"We 
will eat our own bread and wear our own ap- 
parel; only let us be called by thy name, to 
take away our reproach.'" The remaining 
verses of this chapter convey no more mean- 
ing than the one quoted, and there is nothing 
to call our attention to Christ whatever. 

I find the following in chapter 7, in order to 
relieve the mind of King Ahaz, who was in fear 
of being attacked by other kings: Verse 1: 



ISAIAH. 147 



1 'Moreover, the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, 
saying [verse 11], 'Ask thee a sign of the Lord 
thy God; ask it either in the depth below or in 
the height above.' " Verse 12: "But Ahaz said, 
*I will not ask, neither will I tempt, the Lord.' " 
Verse 13 : "And he said : 'Hear ye now, House 
of David. Is it a small thing for you to weary 
men, but will ye weary my God also?' " Verse 
14: " 'Therefore, the Lord himself shall give 
you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and 
bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 
Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know 
to: refuse the evil and choose the good.' " Verse 
16: " 'For before the child shall know to refuse 
the evil and choose the good the land that thou 
abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.' " 

I quote at length this story because this is 
believed to allude to the birth of Christ. I will 
show, however, that this belief is false, and that 
Isaiah is also a false prophet, as in the very next 
chapter this child is born. I, expect Isaiah knew 
of a young woman who was pregnant when he 
was comforting the king. I reckon it was not 
difficult to find them in that condition at any 
time. 

Chapter 8, verse 2 : "And I took unto me faith- 
ful witnesses to record— Uriah, the priest, and 
Zachariah, the son of Jebereehiah. And I went 
unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare 



148 ISAIAH. 

a son. Then said the Lord to me, 'Call his 
name Maher-Shalal-hash-baz. ' " (This is worse 
than a Russian name.) It seems that Isaiah 
played the part of the ghost. He states he went 
unto her and she conceived. How this poorly- 
told story can be taken by sensible people for 
a prognostication of the Virgin Mary conceiv- 
ing by the ghost, and the birth of Christ, is 
more than anyone but a priest can tell. It may 
do for Bible writers and for those that believe 
it to be the word of God; but not for philos- 
ophers and those who do not take everything for 
granted, no matter how absurd, because it is in 
the Bible. Should this so-called prophecy be 
found in any book other than the Bible it would 
not be believed to relate to the Christ of the 
New Testament. 

In a great many chapters the name Christ 
is printed at the head of the chapter by some 
interpolator of Christ being promised, and some- 
times the Church is mentioned; but, when we 
read the verse that is indicated as relating to 
Christ, it is allegorical and the meaning is vague. 
I quote verse 16 in Chapter 28. The notatioD 
at the top of the chapter states: " Christ, the 
sure foundation, is promised.' ' The verse reads; 
"Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: 'Behold, 
I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried 
stone, a previous corner-stone, a sure foundation. 



ISAIAH. 149 



He that believeth shall not make haste.' " Now, 
such nonsensical verses are referred to all 
through the book as if the prophet Isaiah were 
foretelling the coming of Christ centuries after- 
wards. 

It may do for priests and preachers to take 
what they call the text, and try to make it ap- 
pear as if Isaiah were predicting Christ, to 
strengthen the idea that the so-called prophets of 
what is called the Old Testament knew of the 
coming of Christ. They seem to be very anxious 
to substantiate this prediction of the coming of 
Christ at as early a period as possible, in order 
to make their miraculous story of the birth of 
Christ more plausible. I have shown beyond a 
doubt that the prophecy of the virgin giving 
birth to a child in chapter 7 could not be meant 
for Christ, for that child was born in chapter 8 ; 
but I have heard preachers claim in the strong- 
est language that this child spoken of by the 
prophet Isaiah was the coming Christ. I have 
eome to the conclusion that the writer of the 
Book of Isaiah was a visionary kind of man, who 
let his imagination run away with reason, and 
he was a dreamer who thought what he dreamed 
was the word of God put into his ear, as he fre- 
quently says God put what was to come to pass 
in his ear. Besides, he did not tell the king the 
truth, for what he said would come to pass after 



150 T8ATATT. 



the child was born did not prove true accord- 
ing to what followed further on. 

This prophet reminds me very much of the 
clairvoyant or fortune-teller of to-day, or the 
hand-reading gypsy, who predicts good fortune 
according to the size of the coin placed in her 
hand. Should anyone read what is written in 
the Book of Isaiah, in any work but the Bible, 
he would think the writer a crank. The only 
idea of God found in the book is that He did 
not seek the gratitude, but the fear, of the peo- 
ple. They are reminded of the suffering they 
had formerly experienced from plague, famine, 
earthquake, and slaughter, so as to continue them 
in fear of his power. I will quote a few more 
passages, and I am done with this silly produc- 
tion of Isaiah: 

Chapter 37, verse 21: " Whereas, thou has 
prayed [through Isaiah] against the King of 
Assyria [verse 22], this is the word which the 
Lord hath spoken concerning him: The virgin, 
the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee and 
laughed thee to scorn. The daughter of Jeru- 
salem hath shaken her head at thee." Verse 36: 
"Then the Angel of the Lord went forth and 
smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred 
and four score and five thousand [185,000]. And 
when they arose early in the morning, behold, 
they were all dead corpses." This is the sec- 



ISAIAH. 151 



ond time I notice "dead corpses' ' arose. In 
the name of common reason, what sense is there 
in such a foolish statement, and what object 
had the writer, if it was not to delude a foolish 
king and keep np his fear of God as well as 
confidence in the prophet, to pray effectually to 
God to stay His wrath? I expect, like the 
priests of our day, his prayers were a source of 
revenue. Isaiah the prophet was profited in 
more ways than one for this foolish statement. 

Chapter 42 has at the beginning this note: 
"The office of Christ graced with meekness and 
constancy. ' ' Verse 5 : " God 's promise to him. ' ' 
I have not noticed the name of Christ, or the 
Son of God, anywhere in the chapters except in 
the note. I, therefore, conclude that these notes 
are interpolated by priests or others who wish 
to make it appear that these so-called prophecies 
related to the coming of Christ. They have 
stretched their imaginations too far, for these 
predictions are in the present tense. Verse 1: 
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, 
in whom my soul delighteth! I have put my 
spirit upon him," etc. Verse 2: "He shall not 
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard 
in the street." Then in verse 13 we read: "The 
Lord shall go forth as a mighty man. He shall 
stir up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry 
—yea, roar. He shall prevail against his 



152 ISAIAH. 



enemies." Verse 14: "I have long time holden 
my peace. I have been still and refrained 
myself. Now, will I cry like a travailing 
woman. I will destroy and devour at once. ' ' If 
the one that wrote the note at the head of this 
chapter found anything like meekness, or like 
the beautiful character of Christ, in the whole 
chapter, he has done more than I can. 

I have come to the conclusion that this prophet 
was an impostor and is unworthy of belief. He 
is a slanderer of the justice and mercy of God. 
There is nothing in the whole book to admire 
or to benefit anyone. 



JEBEMIAH. 153 



JEEEMIAH. 

I will proceed to investigate the words of an- 
other prophet (Jeremiah), who says God has 
been speaking in his ears of things to come to 
pass. 

Chapter 1 : This prophet, who claims to be of 
the family of priests, begins by introducing him- 
self as follows (verse 4) : "Then the word oif 
the Lord came unto me, saying (verse 5) : 'Be- 
fore I formed thee in the belly I knew thee 
[That was quite early to make his acquaint- 
ance], and before thou earnest forth out of the 
womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a 
prophet unto the nations.' " Verse 6: "Then 
said I, 'Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for 
I am a child.' " Verse 9: "Then the Lord put 
forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the 
Lord said unto me, 'Behold, I have put my 
words in thy mouth.' " (I notice he spoke the 
whole of verse 6 before the Lord touched his 
young lips.) Verse 11: "Moreover, the word of 
the Lord came unto me, saying, 'Jeremiah, what 
seest thou?' And I said, 'I see a rod of an 
almond tree.' " Verse 13: "And the word of 
the Lord came unto me the second time [In 
reality, this is the ninth time, according to his 



154 JEEEMIAH. 



own statement], saying, '"What seest thou?' And 
I said, 'I see a seething pot, and the face is 
turned toward the north/ " Verse 14: "Then 
the Lord said unto me, ' Out of the north an evil 
shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of 
the land.' " 

After this tutoring, he is started out to cry 
into the ears of the people what their fore- 
fathers had done for some centuries from time 
to time, and what they were to look for in the 
future. If Jeremiah predicts like his predeces- 
sors, the Israelites are to have a hard time, 
after being reminded that the Lord had brought 
them out of Egypt and planted them in a bet- 
ter land. 

In chapter 5 Jeremiah commences with God's 
judgments, and then proclaims God's sentence 
for their perverseness, adultery, contempt, etc. 
Verse 6 : " Thus saith the Lord : ' "Wherefore, a 
lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf 
of the evenings shall spoil them ; a leopard shall 
watch over their cities. Everyone that goeth out 
hence shall be torn in pieces because of trans- 
gressions, and many of their backslidings are 
increased." Verse 8: "They are as fed horses. 
In the morning everyone neighed after his 
neighbor's wife." Verse 9: " 'Shall I not visit 



JEREMIAH. 155 



these things V saith the Lord; 'and shall not 
my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?' " 
Verse 10: "Go ye upon her walls and destroy; 
but make not a full end. Take away her battle- 
ments, for they are not the Lord's." Verse 14: 
"Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of Hosts, 
'Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make 
My words in thy mouth fire, and this people 
wood, and it shall devour them.' " God then 
becomes envious of their becoming rich. Verse 
28: "They are waxen fat; they shine— yea, over- 
pass. They judge not the cause of the father- 
less, yet they prosper." (By turning them to 
wood, fire would not be painful.) 

In chapter 18 the people conspire against 
Jeremiah and threaten to kill him. They said : 
"Come, let us smite him; let us not give heed 
to any of his words." Jeremiah goes with his 
complaint to God, and shows his malicious na- 
ture and his wicked selfishness. Verse 19: 
"Give heed to me, Lord, and hearken to the 
voice of them that contend with me. ' ' Verse 21 : 
"Therefore, deliver up their children to famine, 
and pour out their blood by the force of the 
sword. Let their wives be bereaved of their 
children; let them be widows. Let their men 
be put to death." Verse 22: "Let a cry be 



156 JEEEMIAH. 



heard from their houses where thou shalt bring 
a troop suddenly upon them, for they have 
digged a pit to take me; they have laid snares 
for my feet." Terse 23: "Yet, Lord, Thou 
knowest all their counsel to slay me, Forgive 
not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from 
Thy sight, but let them be overthrown before 
Thee. Deal thus with them in the time of Thy 
anger. " This prophet seems to be as cruel as 
Moses, when the people doubted the truth of his 
communications. To God he prayed to have all 
of their innocent children and women starved, 
and all the men slain. 

Thinking over what I read of the way in which 
the government of the Israelites was carried on 
while God was dictator from the time of Moses 
to the time of the prophets, the latter of which 
were His sole ambassadors to their kings, they 
had the most cruel government on earth at that 
time. He claims to have freed them from bond- 
age in Egypt in a most miraculous way; and, 
since that delivery, He subjected them to the 
bondage of more cruel rulers and kings than the 
Egyptians. I notice, also, in their wanderings 
through the wilderness and deserts, they fre- 
quently cried out in vain for the fleshpots of 
Egypt, preferring slavery with the Egyptians 



JEBEMIAH. 157 



to their suffering under the management of God 
and His agent, Moses. Again, I notice this god 
has established the miserable and unjust prece- 
dent that exists to this day of hereditary kings 
and rulers over nation after nation yet unborn. 
Be they born idiots or monstrosities, monkeys 
or what not, they were God's royal stock, on 
whom he had poured his sacred oil. I am glad 
and rejoice that this holy oil is growing weaker 
and weaker as education and democracy in- 
crease, and ignorance and superstition dimin- 
ish. I notice with gratitude the spread of demo- 
cratic and republican principles, which are true 
democracy; that is, a government recognizing 
the right of men to govern themselves is becom- 
ing popular. 

Ihe more I read the more disgusted I am at 
the idea that God is made so contemptible by 
those who attempt to portray Him, for, accord- 
ing to what is stated in these books, He is noth- 
ing but a monster. It is, "Thus saith the Lord 
to me, ' ' and ' ' Give ear unto me, Lord, ' ' and 
so on, through the books of the prophets. How 
could a just God be supposed to expect His peo- 
ple to believe everything these wicked men 
said? They had only the prophets' word for 
the truth of what was told them from time to 



158 JEEEMIAH. 

time, as it suited the prophets' purpose and oc- 
casion. God, in justice, could have made known 
His wishes in person to their king or ruler as well 
as to these self-constituted prophets. 

Royal blood is known to be inferior to that 
of nature's noblemen. We have only to look 
at poor priest-ridden Spain, reduced to a guitar- 
picking nation, with an Alfonso, almost an im- 
becile, for a king, who has to be escorted around 
by a government appointed to keep him from 
making himself too ridiculous, and thus com- 
promise his kingdom. And to think the Spanish 
people are paying millions to sustain this weak 
scion of royal blood when a doll would answer 
every purpose just as well at a nominal ex- 
pense. It will not last long. I hope to see, 
during my lifetime, every nation on the civilized 
globe cease to recognize royalty, who usurp the 
right to govern nations yet unborn. Then every 
generation will choose men of intellect, moral 
worth, and integrity to- fill the several offices of 
their governments. Crowned heads now tremble 
at beholding the example of the United States 
of America. France has followed suit. Down- 
trodden Russia, one of the most powerful na- 
tions on earth, but misgoverned shamefully by 
a royal despot, is rapidly becoming enlightened, 



JEEEMIAH. 159 



and democracy is gaining a firm foothold there. 

My sympathy is with my fellow-man in the 
whole world. I am a Deist by nature, and a 
Democrat from principle. I am grateful to God 
because he is unlimited in generosity, impartial 
to all his creatures. I adore him because he is 
just; because he is merciful and mindful of all 
alike. He sends his blessings on the ungrateful 
as well as on the grateful. I believe in democ- 
racy, because I believe God has given to man 
rights that no one else can usurp and take from 
him. He has the divine right to serve God ac- 
cording to the dictates of his conscience, and to 
make for himself the best government his in- 
tellect can provide, and circumstances will al- 
low, in order to protect his life, his liberty, his 
happiness, either politically or religiously; to 
be neither ridden by royalty nor priests. He 
claims the right from God to rebel whenever 
his divine rights are infringed upon by either. 

I will proceed with my investigations of the 
so-called prophets. 

Chapter 23 : I notice the name of Christ, who 
shall rule and save them, referring the reader 
to verse 5, which reads: " 'Behold, the day 
comes,' saith the Lord, 'that I will raise up 
David, a righteous branch, and a king shall 



160 JEREMIAH. 



reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment 
and justice in the earth.' " Verse 6: " 'In his 
day Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell 
safely, and this is his name, whereby he shall 
be called [written in large capital letters], THE 
LORD, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.'" It is 
plain that the interpreter intends this as a fore- 
telling of the coming of Christ. But it is too 
absurd, for at no time did Christ reign as a king 
or sit in judgment, nor did the Israelites live in 
peace under his government. Christ was born 
while Cassar, the Emperor of Rome, ruled over 
the Jews through a Roman governor, and who 
reigned through the whole time that Christ 
lived, so this is also false, like all the other 
prophecies that these Bible compilers try to 
twist and turn so as to show that these far- 
seeing men foretold the coming of Christ. They 
might have made themselves easy on that ac- 
count, for Christ materialized at the proper 
time, without the aid of the prophets, and es- 
tablished himself and made a character far su- 
perior to any that were before or after him. 

Chapter 38 gives an account of Jeremiah hav- 
ing been cast in a dungeon, and nearly stoned 
to death, for not prophesying to suit Zedekiah, 
the king. The dungeon was a very foul place. 



JEREMIAH. 161 

Verse 6: "And in the dungeon there was no 
water, but mire, so Jeremiah sank in the mire. ,, 
One of the Ethiopian eunuchs told the king he 
was treated so badly that he was likely to die. 
The king commanded the Ethiopian to take 
thirty men and take him out of the dungeon be- 
fore he died. Then comes a description by the 
Ethiopian how he managed to take him out of 
the dungeon. Verse 11: "He took old cloths 
and old rotten rags, and let them down by 
cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. ' ' Verse 12 : 
"The Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, 'Put, now, 
these old cloths and old rotten rags under thine 
armholes under the cords.' And Jeremiah did 
so." Verse 13: "So they drew up Jeremiah, 
and he remained in the court of the prison." 
Verse 14: "Then the king sent, and took Jere- 
miah with him into the third entry that is in 
the house of the Lord. And the king said unto 
Jeremiah, 'I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing 
from me.' " Verse 15: "Then Jeremiah said 
unto the king, 'If I declare it unto thee, wilt 
not thou surely put me to death ? And if I give 
thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto mef ■' 
Verse 16: "So the king swore secretly, saying, 
'As the Lord liveth [making a sacred oath], I 
will not put thee to death, neither will I give 



JEREMIAH. 



thee into the hands of those men who seek thy 
life.' " Jeremiah proves both a traitor as well 
as a willful liar to the king, but he had good 
cause for revenge after his treatment in the 
dungeon. Verse 17: "Thus said Jeremiah to 
Zedekiah, 'Thus saith the Lord God of Hosts, 
the God of Israel: "If thou wilt assuredly go 
forth unto the King of Babylon's princes, then 
thy soul shall live and this city shall not be 
burned with fire, and thou shalt live and thine 
house," ' " Yerse 8: " ' "But if thou wilt not 
go forth to the King of Babylon's princes, then 
this city shall be given into the hands of the 
Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and 
thou shalt not escape out of their hands. ,, ' " 
Verses 22 and 23 show what will happen if he 
fails to listen to the words of the Lord. All his 
wives and children will be given to the Chal- 
deans, and he, too. Then the king had an under- 
standing that, when the princes inquired of 
Jeremiah what had passed between him and the 
king, he should tell them that he persuaded the 
king not to send him to prison to die there. 
Verse 26: "'So Jeremiah abode in the court of 
the prison until the day that Jerusalem was 
taken." 

Chapter 39 shows the result of the trickery of 



JEREMIAH. 163 



Jeremiah." Verse 6 : "The King of Babylon slew 
the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; also, the 
King of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. ' ■ 
Verse 7: " Moreover, he put out Zedekiah 's eyes 
and bound him with chains to carry him to 
Babylon." 

Chapter 40 shows that the King of Babylon 
rewarded the prophet Jeremiah for his acting 
traitor and lying to his king, so as to let the city 
fall into his hands. The King of Babylon or- 
ders his officer to release Jeremiah and deal 
kindly with him, and reward him as he desires. 
Verse 5: "After he was freed from his chains, 
the officer gave him food and a reward, and told 
him to go to the governor whom the King of 
Babylon had appointed to rule over the cities 
of Judah, and dwell with him, or go wherever he 
desired to go." 

To my mind, after reviewing what is stated 
in these two chapters, it seems very strange that 
God would instruct this prophet of His to do 
such a wicked thing as to prophesy falsely in 
His name, so as to allow a foreign king to cap- 
ture His chosen people, the Jews, and destroy 
their city and carry them away into slavery. 
Again, God is made by this false prophet to be 
a party in this wicked trickery. But I find that 



164 JEBEMIAH. 



the Bible writers so often bring God into con- 
tempt that I rejoice because I do not believe 
God ever had a word face to face with any living 
man. God's only word to man is nature as we 
behold it, and our duty is to learn all we can by 
the study and investigation of his natural laws, 
which are unchangeable, true, and for the benefit 
of all men alike. I, as a Deist, do not believe 
a single word in this book to be the word of 
God, the priest, the Pope, or anyone else, to 
the contrary. It grieves me to think that any 
sane man could for a moment believe in the 
wickedness, cruelty, and all manner of immoral, 
indecent, obscene acts that this book charges 
Him with. 

The Lamentations of Jeremiah is nothing 
more than a recapitulation of the deplorable 
and horrid condition the people were in for their 
so-called transgressions already gone over 
through the book. Lamentations, chapter 4, 
verse 4: "The tongue of the sucking child 
cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The 
young children ask for bread, and no man 
breaketh it unto them." Verse 5: "They that 
did feed delicately are desolate in the streets. 
They that were brought up in scarlet embrace 
dunghills." Verse 11: "The Lord has accom- 



JEEBMIAH. 165 



plished his fury. He hath poured out his fierce 
anger and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it 
hath devoured the foundations thereof.' ' To 
accuse our benevolent Creator of the commis- 
sion of such horrors and cruelty, no true Deist 
can tolerate or believe. 



166 EZEKTEL. 



EZEKIEL. 

I come now to investigate Ezekiel. I have 
read it through, and find it grows no better. 
The style of the writer has changed enough to 
enable one to see that another person was the 
author than the one who wrote Jeremiah, from, 
"Thus saith the Lord/' to, "And the word of 
the Lord came unto me." Ezekiel always has 
a preamble, such as: "And the word of the 
Lord came unto me," "I saw visions of God, 
and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, 
a great cloud and a fire." Chapter 1, verse 5: 
"And out of the midst thereof came the like- 
ness of four living creatures, and this was their 
appearance: They had the likeness of a man." 
Verse 6: "And every one had four faces, and 
every one had four wings." He goes on to de- 
scribe their feet, wings, etc., until he comes to 
their faces. Verse 10: "As for the likeness of 
their faces, the four had the face of a man, and 
the face of a lion on the right side, and they 
four had the face of an ox on the left side ; they 
four had also the face of an eagle. ' ' The writer 
goesTon with his description till one gets tired 
of the nonsense. He sees wheels upon wheels. 
The wheels had four likenesses. Verse 18: "As 
for their rings, they were so high that they were 
dreadful : and their rings were full of eyes round 



EZEKIEL. * 167 



about them four." The rest of the chapter is 
filled up with the way they went and other 
meaningless nonsense. After seeing all this, 
God gives him his commission. 

Chapter 2, verse 1: "And he said unto me, 
'Son of man, stand on thy feet, and I will speak 
unto thee.' " God then sends him out to speak 
to the people, whether they will listen or not. 

Chapter 3, verse 2 : " And I opened my mouth, 
and he caused me to eat that Edl? 1 * Verse 3: 
"And he said unto me, 'Son of man, cause thy 
belly to eat, and fill thy bowel with this roll that 
I give thee/ Then I did eat it." After giving 
him to understand what he was sent to say, he 
was told the people would not believe him, for 
Israel is hardhearted and impudent. ' ' Then the 
spirit took me up, and I heard a voice behind 
me, saying," etc. This visionary prophet, giving 
accounts and descriptions of what he said he 
saw, caused my mind to return to my boyhood, 
when I was frequently a spectator at what the 
people called "giving in their experience" when 
they were what they called "converted." The 
experiences were called for by the exhorters at 
their prayer-meetings. Of course, it was among 
the illiterate and superstitious that this was 
practiced. I have seen it also at Methodist camp- 
meetings at the close of what was called "regu- 
lar service"; that is, after the singing of hymns 



168 EZEKIEL. 



before and after the sermon by the preacher for 
the occasion. 

I will here give a short description of the 
camp-ground in "Wilkinson County, Mississippi, 
about eight miles south of Woodville, known as 
" Bethel Camp Ground.' 7 It was situated at the 
head of a hollow; that is, a hill on three sides, 
with an outlet to carry off the rainwater. All 
around the hills were what were called " tents.' ' 
Some of the more wealthy had regular rough, 
but roomy, houses; some large sheds covered 
with boards, and the sides planked in. The 
interior was divided into compartments by jute 
bagging brought from the plantations, which 
could be afterwards taken down and used to 
put cotton in. The occupants usually con- 
structed a hall through the center of the shed 
with this bagging, about eight feet wide. On 
one side of the hall was a compartment for la- 
dies; on the other side, one for gtntfemen. In 
these compartments was constructed on one side, 
through the whole length, a sort of scaffold made 
of planks, to throw the mattresses on. The 
grounds were covered with beautiful shade trees 
of beech, magnolia, holly, maple, and other trees, 
the undergrowth having been cleared away 
sufficiently to allow the grass to grow, which 
was mowed just before the meeting. There were 
also cold springs. Several ran from under the 



EZEKIEL. 169 

hills, forming a spring branch, that furnished 
abundant water for everyone and horses; in 
fact, sufficient for an army. Boxes and large 
barrels were sunk, so as to dip in the water-pail 
or bucket. I have played around these springs, 
and some of the water boiled, as it were, through 
white sand at the bottom, raising the sand three 
or four inches. One flowed so quickly that two 
of us could not lower the water in the box, which 
was about three by four feet, with water-pails 
that held two gallons, though we worked ever 
so hard. My mother and a Mr. Muse had a 
tent together to accommodate their families and 
friends. This was an annual feast which all 
looked forward to with pleasure. October was 
the month. The grounds could accommodate 
comfortably live or six thousand persons. The 
great preachers from New Orleans, Memphis, 
and other cities came to expound Methodism 
here in a wholesale way. Those .who had tents 
began to fatten pigs, turkeys, and chickens a 
month before the expected time. The neighbors 
of those who had tents would contribute. My 
father lived in East Feliciana Parish, which 
joined Wilkinson County about ten miles from 
the Bethel camp ground. A four-mule team 
and wagon made regular trips every other day 
with provisions. These meetings always lasted 
eight or ten days. They even kept up till the 



170 EZEKIEL. 

Civil War. I never failed to attend. After I 
left home for college I always went back to 
attend the camp meeting. It was an enjoyable 
time for all. I well remember the old and pious, 
with their religions devotions; the sermons by 
the noted divines; and the young, with love- 
making. The reminiscences of those days are 
pleasant and vivid ones to me. The "stand," as 
it was called, was situated at the outlet of the 
hollow. A ditch was dug to convey the water, 
and was bridged over and passed out under a 
very large shed, with seats to accommodate five 
or six thousand persons. The programme daily 
was at sunrise. The horn was sounded by 
Brother Richardson for prayer meeting. At 
eleven o'clock there was a sermon by some great 
divine, and at eight o'clock service and sermon 
by some other noted preacher. After this serv- 
ice a great many returned to the tents to talk 
over the sermon, etc. The superstitious and 
the evangelistic element would remain, and then 
the show began. My mother would take my sis- 
ters and others in her charge, and return to the 
tent. I, with the young lady whom I escorted, 
with our companions, would remain to see the 
' * show, " as we called the revival. 

The floor of the tabernacle was covered several 
inches deep with sawdust brought for the pur- 
pose from the sawmills. There was an elevated 



EZEKIEL. 171 

stand for a pulpit, or preacher's stand, and 
around it was what was called the "mourners' 
benches." The most pathetic orators or exhort- 
ers would now begin. They were eloquent in 
describing the agony of Christ, till they caused 
the tears to flow freely from their sympathetic 
hearers. Under this strain of sympathy, some 
of them would become so excited that they would 
shout and scream at the top of their voices, and 
actually some of them would become hysterical 
or rigid in a fit. This they called "trance," 
or ' ' getting the religion. ' ' The men and women 
would fall in the sawdust exhausted, the exhort- 
ers shouting at the top of their loud voices: 
"Bless God! Come down, now, Jesus! Now is 
the time of salvation." They would slap each 
other on the back, grasp each other by the arms, 
and embrace, cry and laugh at the same time. 
They called this the "holy laugh." They would 
call the people to the mourners' benches to be 
prayed for, and give their hands to the preacher 
and promise to devote their lives to the service 
of God. This would last about two hours, or 
until some more intelligent and influential 
preacher would come from the tents and divert 
the minds of the excited people by giving out 
an appropriate hymn, such as, "Happy day! 
Happy day! When Jesus washed my sins 
away !" and so on, which some of the less excited 



172 EZEKIEL. 

would, sing. They seemed to have a soothing 
effect, and the influential brother would take 
hold of the ranters, and the show would end 
till the next night, when probably the show 
would change to giving in their experience wheu 
they were converted; that is, of religion. Some 
of their statements were ridiculous in the ex- 
treme. Some of them said they saw Christ in 
different shapes. Some said Christ called to 
them under strange circumstances, such as pass- 
ing into an unconscious state and walking with 
Christ in dark and fearful places. Some would 
become confused and break down in their tale, 
leaving off abruptly without coming to a point. 
According to the intelligence of the relator, the 
nature of the experience would vary. 

During the revivals of the camp meeting quite 
a number of conversions were professed, and 
some two hundred would join the church. The 
"Christian Advocate," a newspaper printed in 
the interest of the church, would publish the 
great good that had been accomplished. The 
new members received indicated the general 
waking up of the people in the interest of their 
salvation and redeeming power of the blood of 
Christ. This enthusiasm and piety would last 
till about Christmas, when a few weddings and 
balls would be the cause of many "baek- 
slidings," as they were called. When members 



EZEKIEL. 173 

of the church danced they were turned out of 
the church. I expect, if the truth was known, 
most fathers and mothers within thirty or forty 
miles of Bethel were betrothed there. I was 
very susceptible, and was desperately in love 
with some lovely girl I would meet there; but, 
like the backsliders from the church, would soon 
be dancing and in love with some other sweet 
girl, forgetting my camp-meeting darling be- 
cause of her absence. But there were others 
that were more constant, and even got married. 
I had two close friends of my youth that met 
their matrimonial fate at my mother's tent. 

To return to visions of Ezekiel. Reading them 
reminds me of old Uncle Mbse, a noted negro 
preacher of the Baptist persuasion, whose re- 
ligious meetings and baptizings I often at- 
tended when a boy. His descriptions of Christ, 
whom he said he saw often, were very much like 
the descriptions of God given by Ezekiel. Mose 
never saw God, but Christ had eyes like fire, and 
hands of brass. His hair was like threads of fine 
gold. His feet were marble. His voice was like 
music. Uncle Mose was a great revivalist, and 
the black people were great shouters. His ser- 
mons were very peculiar. He did not preach 
connected sentences. I do not think I ever heard 
a full sentence. His great power seemed to be 
in the neculiar intonation of his voice. Most of 



174 EZEKIEL. 



his sermon was made up with : ' ' Hell fire ! Brim- 
stone! Holy Ghost! The Lamb of God! The 
devil! Salvation! Damnation!" His gestures also 
had their effect. The congregation wonld help 
to get up the enthusiasm by groans and loud 
aniens, and other responses, till some woman in 
the congregation would scream and fall, when 
she would be seized by a couple of stout men 
and swung to and fro till she would regain con- 
sciousness. 

Then the show would begin. They would sing 
and shout and embrace each other for some 
time. They sang well and in good time, and 
some of them had fine voices. One of their 
hymns impressed me very much, and I still re- 
member a part of it : 

"When I am gone, 
When I am gone, 
When you hear my bones a-brril.iiig 
Don't you grieve after me, 
Don't you grieve after me." 

This was a chorus after each verse of the im- 
provised hymn. 

I expect this poor old negro slave saw as much 
of Christ as Ezekiel did of God, and that was 
nothing, except in imagination. "The word of 
the Lord came unto me, saying, ' Son of man, ' ' ' 
and so on, at the beginning of most of his chap- 
ters, and when the Lord directs him what to 



EZEKIEL. 173 



say to the people, is about as worthy of belief. 
I will quote a few more passages of this 
prophet's wicked instructions from God, and 
pass on to the next. Chapter 21, verse 1: "And 
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
'Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, 
and drop thy word toward the holy places, and 
prophesy against the land of Israel. ' ' ' Verse 3 : 
"Thus saith the Lord, 'Behold, I am against 
thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his 
sheath, and will cut off from the righteous and 
the wicked.' " Verse 4: " 'Seeing, thou, that 
I will cut off from thee the righteous and the 
wicked; therefore, shall My sword go forth out 
of his sheath against all flesh from the south 
to the north.' " Verse 5: " 'That all flesh may 
know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My 
sword out of his sheath, it shall not return any 
more. ' ' ' Verse 6 : " ' Sigh, therefore, son of 
man; with the breaking of thy loins and with 
bitterness, sigh before their eyes.' " Verse 12: 
" 'Cry and howl, son of man, for it shall be 
upon My people:. It shall be on all the princes 
of Israel. Terrors, by reason of the sword, 
shall be upon my people. Smite, therefore, 
upon thy thigh.' " If anyone can see either 
intelligence, reason, good language, or diction 
in the foregoing quotations, his comprehension 
is better than mine. The idea of dropping his 



176 EZEKIEL. 

word over the land of Israel, and the sword 
coming forth out of his sheath, and being told 
by God to smite himself on his thigh, as we 
sometimes see people clap their hands in exulta- 
tion, or when applauding an eloquent speech. 

This prophet is the most ignorant and super- 
stitious of all I have examined. I hope they 
will improve in morality, justice, and mercy, 
and have less fearful and unreasonable visions. 
They are like mermaid stories, only not as 
amusing. No one can believe or see any sense 
in writing such stuff, and to call it the word of 
God, too, is worse. To use a common expres- 
sion, it is like adding injury to insult to expect 
us to believe such nonsense because it is in the 
Bible, and, if we do not, abuse and call us un- 
believers, infidels, blasphemers, and all sorts of 
disrespectful names. If it is infidelity to be- 
lieve in truth, then I am a confirmed infidel, 
and cannot help myself. 



DANIEL, HOSEA, AND JOEL. 177 

ON THE BOOKS OF DANIEL, HOSEA, 
AND JOEL. 

The Book of Daniel begins by giving an ac- 
count of his being captured and taken to Baby- 
lon, where he was chosen by the king to be 
taught by the men placed in charge of the king's 
prince of eunuchs, who gave Daniel the name 
Belshazzar. Daniel's three companions in cap- 
tivity also had their names changed to Shadrach, 
Meshach, and Abednego. God gave to them 
knowledge and skill in science. This is the 
first time I notice the word "science." I ex- 
pect the writer means the science of astrology, 
which has been exploded by the more modern 
science of philosophy. Daniel seems to have 
been the most intelligent of the four brought 
before the king, and gained the king's favor. 
After having examined him, he found him ten 
times better than all the magicians that were in 
his kingdom. The king had a dream, and none 
of his wise astrologers could tell him what it 
was, the king having forgotten. As he expressed 
it, the dream had gone from him, and he threat- 
ened, if they did not make it again known to 
him, he would have them cut to pieces, and its 
interpretation was also demanded. They told 
the king that his request was both unreasonable 
and impossible. The king then became furious, 



178 DANIEL, HOSEA, AND JOEL. 

and ordered all the wise men of Babylon to 
be slain, Daniel included. When the king's cap- 
tain came for Daniel, and made known the de- 
cree of the king, the prophet asked for a respite. 

Chapter 2, verse 16: "Then Daniel went in 
and desired of the king time, and he would show 
the king the interpretation. ' ' Verse 19 : Then 
the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night- 
vision. He describes the vision of the king to 
him. ' ' The image thou saw was of fine gold ; his 
breast and his arms were of silver ; his belly and 
thighs were of brass; his legs of iron; his feet 
part iron and part clay." Then he goes on 
with the interpretation, equally as remarkable. 
Daniel was far superior to the other prophets. 
He could not only interpret the dream, but re- 
call it after the dreamer had forgotten it. This 
is superior to mind-reading, for it is impossible 
to read what is not in the mind at the time. Of 
course, after this, Daniel was in great favor 
with the king. 

Chapter 5 gives that remarkable story of the 
fingers of a man's hand writing on the wall in 
sight of King Belshazzar. Verse 6: "Then the 
king's countenance was changed, and his 
thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his 
loins were loosed, and his knees smote one 
against another." He cried out for the astrol- 
ogers and soothsayers, but the writing was in 



DANIEL, HOSEA, AND JOEL. 179 

an unknown tongue to them. Verse 25: "And 
this is the writing that was written: 'Mene, 
mene, tekel, upharsin.'" Verse 26: "This is 
the interpretation of the words : M ene— God has 
numbered thy kingdom and finished it." Verse 
27: "Tekel— Thou art weighed in the balances 
and found wanting. [The word said to be on 
the wall was upharsin.] Thy kingdom is divided 
and given to the Medes and Persians." Then 
David was made the third ruler in the kingdom. 
Verse 30: "In that night was Belshazzar, the 
King of the Chaldeans, slain." 

Chapter 6 relates the casting of Daniel into 
the lions' den by false accusation made to the 
king by his envious eunuchs. Verse 17: "And 
a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth 
of the den. And the king sealed it with his 
own signet and with the signet of his lords, that 
the purpose might not be changed concerning 
Daniel. The king hastened in the morning to 
the lions* den and asked Daniel if his god had 
saved him from the lions." Verse 21: "Then 
Daniel said unto the king, 'Live forever.' " 
Verse 22: " 'My God hath sent his angel, and 
hath shut the lions' mouths that they have not 
hurt me, and also before thee, king, have I 
done no hurt. ' So Daniel prospered in the reign 
of Darius and Cyrus the Persian." 



180 DANIEL, HOSEA, AND JOEL. 

Daniel continues his wonderful visions of 
strange beasts with many heads and horns, and 
his interpretation of them, and describes his 
meeting with angels. Gabriel also makes his 
appearance. The whole is unintelligible, and, 
therefore, uninteresting. 

I will now proceed to examine the prophet 
Hoisea. I have read the whole of Hosea, and 
can see nothing but obscene passages, which 
are vague, without intelligent meaning. 

I will pass by Joel for the same reason. It 
contains too much of God's judgments, which 
are neither rational nor of any interest. 



AMOS AND OBADIAH. 181 



AMOS AND OBADIAH. 

Amos carries us back to the time of Jeroboam 
and Moab, and repeats God's judgments, and 
more lamentations «for Israel, and so on. 

Obadiah has only one chapter, called "The 
Vision of Obadiah," and what he saw does not 
concern us. 



182 JONAH. 



BOOK OF JONAH. 

We now reach the Book of Jonah, which is 
spun out to four chapters. The first gives a 
description of Jonah's trying to escape from 
the Lord, being prevented from doing so by a 
storm at sea, and his encounter with the fish. 
The fish got the best of the encounter, and 
swallowed him, and kept him safe in his belly 
three days and three nights. Then Jonah 
prayed to the Lord his God out of the fish's 
belly. Verse 10: "And the Lord spake unto 
the fish, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry 
land. Then the word of the Lord came unto 
Jonah the second time, saying, 'Go and preach 
to Nineveh, and preach that I bid thee.' And 
Jonah cried, and said, 'Yet forty days and 
Nineveh shall be overthrown.' " Verse 5: "The 
people believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and 
put on sackcloth. The king heard the word, 
and he, too, put off his robe and covered him- 
self with sackcloth and sat in ashes. The king 
issued a proclamation, and published it through 
Nineveh, that man and beast should neither eat 
nor drink water. But let man and beast be cov- 
ever with sackcloth and cry mightily unto 
God." Verse 10: "God saw how penitent they 
were, and God repented of the evil he intended 
to do them, and he did it not." 



JONAH. 183 



Jonah became angry at God's failure to carry 
out his word, and told the Lord to take his life, 
for he had rather die than live. Then the Lord 
said, "Dost thou well to be angry?" So Jonah 
went out of the city and made himself a booth 
and sat in the shade. God, in order to pacify 
Jonah, caused a gourd to shade him. So Jonah 
was exceeding glad of the gourd, but God pre- 
pared a worm to destroy the gourd. So it came 
to pass, when the sun did arise, God prepared 
an east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head, 
and he fainted, and wished to die. Then the 
Lord and Jonah had a dispute about the matter, 
but the Lord got the better of the argument, 
and I suppose they remained good friends. If 
God did destroy his gourd, He got him out of 
the belly of the fish, and, as the saying goes, it 
was even with them. 

This is rather a silly story to be voted the 
word of God. If it was written in any book 
but the Bible, no> one would for a moment think 
it was intended for truth, as it reduces God to 
a capricious, childish character. 



184 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 



THE HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

In order to form a correct idea of the legend 
of the four evangelists or apostles, as to the 
truth of their relations, I will examine them col- 
lectively. They are all founded on the birth 
and life of Jesus Christ, which they claim was 
founded on the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment. I find they all differ in their narratives 
as to the conception and birth of Christ; in 
fact, of the whole history of him, from con- 
ception to his crucifixion. Matthew and Luke 
begin their fabulous account before the concep- 
tion. Mark and John do not mention this 
strange, immaculate conception at all. Matthew 
says the angel appeared to Joseph. Luke says 
the angel appeared to Mary, and told her she 
would be debauched by a ghost, and that the 
power of the Highest would overshadow her. 

Before I proceed I will give the natural law 
of fecundation. Every woman, when she comes 
to maturity, has, at stated intervals, an en- 
gorgement of the genital organs. The ovaries 
becoming engorged, one or more vesicles burst, 
and give off an egg, such as a hen will produce 
when kept separate from the male, but the egg 
thus produced is incomplete and will not hatch. 
The same with the incomplete ovule, or egg, dis- 
charged by the ovaries of all women, whether 



HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 185 

virgin or matron, until they pass the age of 
menstruating. Should sexual connection occur 
at the time that this incomplete egg, or ovule, 
is present in the womb, and the spermatozoid, 
or male germ, come in contact with it, it be- 
comes a complete egg, or ovum. This is con- 
ception. Now, to ask anyone to believe the 
miraculous account of Matthew and Luke, know- 
ing at the same time the physiology of the laws 
established by the God of Nature for reproduc- 
tion, is too much, even for a presumptuous 
priest. 

I will here give Matthew's account of the im- 
maculate conception, and follow it with Luke's. 
The other two do not say anything about this 
obscene and miraculous fable. 

Matthew, chapter 1, verse 23: "Behold, a 
virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a 
sou, and they shall call his name, ' Emmanuel. ' " 
It will be remembered I called attention, when 
investigating Isaiah, to the fact that he 
prophesied that a virgin would conceive and 
bare a son. Now-, this writer of Matthew is try- 
ing to twist this as a prophecy of Christ, when, 
in the very next chapter of Isaiah, the child he 
spoke of was born. This was some seven hun- 
dred years before Christ. 

Verse 19: "Then Joseph, her husband, being 
a just man, and not willing to make her a pub- 



186 HISTOEY OF JESUS GHEIST. 

lie example, was minded to put her away pri- 
vately." Verse 20: "But, while he was think- 
ing on these things, behold, the angel of the 
Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, 
'Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take 
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is 
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.' " Verse 
24: "Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did 
as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and 
took unto him his wife. ' ' Verse 25 : " And knew 
her not till she had brought forth her first-born, 
and he called his name Jesus." I find this 
writer states that Joseph surpassed the ghost, 
for Mary had sons and daughters after the son 
by the ghost. 

Now, I will see what Luke says about this 
wonderful conception. 

Luke, chapter 1, verse 26: "And in the sixth 
month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God 
unto the city of Galilee named Nazareth." 
Verse 27 : "To a virgin espoused to a man named 
Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's 
name was Mary. ' ' Verse 28 : " And the angel 
came in unto her, and said: 'Hail! Thou that 
art highly favored. The. Lord is with thee! 
Blessed art thou among women ! ' " Verse 29 : 
"And when she saw him she was troubled at 
his saying, and cast in her mind what manner 
of salutation this should be." Verse 30: "And 



HISTOKY OF JESUS CHRIST. 187 

the angel said unto her, 'Fear not, Mary, for 
thou hast found favor with God.' " Yerse 31: 
" 'And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy 
womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his 
name Jesus.' " Verse 34: "Then said Mary 
unto the angel, 'How shall this be, seeing I 
know not a man ? ' And the angel answered, and 
said unto her, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon 
thee, and the power of the Highest shall over- 
shadow thee.' Also, 'That holy thing which 
shall be born of thee shall be called the 'Son of 
God.' " 

These two writers of this remarkable as well 
as impossible story differ very materially in re- 
lating the fable. It is evident that it is a fabri- 
cation by both of them, and is not worthy of 
belief. It is much more easy for man to lie 
than for nature to go out of its course. The 
fact that neither Mark nor John knew anything 
of such a remarkable occurrence, when they both 
lived in the same locality, and such a strange 
thing as a young woman going to be married is 
overcome by a ghost, and all parties concerned 
in the proceedings are content, would have been 
the talk of the community, and others, besides 
Matthew and Luke, would have known. John, 
who was one of Christ's nearest friends, would 
have heard of it, and, at least, made mention 
of it. 



188 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

I will here digress for the purpose of writing 
about the best historian of that age, Josephus. 
He was about the same age as Jesus Christ, was 
born at Jerusalem of a noble family of the Jews, 
was highly educated, and was conservative both 
in his politics and religion. He was a good 
writer and historian. He gave an elaborate ac- 
count of what transpired around Galilee. He 
was a Roman officer situated at Galilee, and was 
looked on with favor by the Galileans. Josephus 
is a far better writer than any of the so-called 
inspired ones, either in the Old or New Testa- 
ment. His sense of justice was strong, and he 
was trustworthy and honest. He exerted him- 
self to the utmost, and frequently risked his life, 
in the interest of the Jews, his people. As an 
illustration of his character, I relate an occur- 
rence: Two great men, who were under the 
jurisdiction of Agrippa, came to him, bringing 
their horses and their arms, and carrying with 
them their money. The Jews wished to force 
them to be circumcised if they stayed among 
them. He would not permit them to use force, 
but said: "Everyone ought to worship God ac- 
cording to his own inclination, and not to be 
constrained by force; and these men who have 
fled to us for protection ought not to be treated 
as to cause them to repent of their coming 
among us. ' ' And when he had pacified the mul- 



HISTOEY OF JESUS CHEIST. 189 

titude, lie provided these men with all they 
wanted in generous plenty. This is the first 
time such liberal views were advanced by any- 
one who lived in those times. 

I wish now to give what Josephus says of 
Christ. He and Christ were about the same 
age. Both were Jews and did not live far 
apart. Josephus made his headquarters in 
Tiberius; Christ in and around Galilee and 
Nazareth. Josephus, in the whole of his his- 
tory, only has the following to record of Christ, 
and I believe a part of that is interpolated, for 
it differs from Josephus' style, and Josephus 
was not at all superstitious. The words in- 
serted are: "If it be lawful to call him a man, 
for he was a doer of wonderful works. ' ' 

Josephus says: "Now, about this time, Jesus, 
a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, 
for he was a doer of wonderful works, and a 
teacher of such men as receive the truth with 
pleasure. He drew over to him both many of 
the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was 
the Christ. And Pilate, at the suggestion of 
the principal men among us, had condemned him 
to the cross. Those that loved him at the first 
did not forsake, him, for he appeared to them 
alive again the third day, as the divine prophets 
had foretold ; these and ten thousand other won- 
derful things concerning him; and the tribe of 



190 HISTORY OF JESUS CHEIST. 

Christians, so named from him, is not extinct 
at this day. ' ' 

Now, Josephus was a too-truthful man to say 
that Christ appeared to them after death, for 
this could only "be hearsay to him, and he could 
not assert that he did appear. He could only 
have narrated that it was said he appeared. 

I will now insert a story of an occurrence at 
Rome to show that the ideas taken from the 
heathen mythologists were still in vogue among 
many, and I have an idea that the writers of 
the books of Matthew and Luke got their 
strange notion of the ghost cohabiting with 
Mary from what we all have read of concern- 
ing the amorous god Jupiter and his amours 
with Europa and other women. I copy this 
story because I think it a good one, and to show 
that the then Emperor Tiberius was a just man 
for those times, and to show, again, the dis- 
honesty of the priests in lending themselves to 
aid the most wicked of crimes. 

About this time, also (that is, about the time 
Christ was crucified), another calamity put the 
Jews into disorder, and certain shameful prac- 
tices happened about the Temple of Isis, which 
was in Rome. I will now take notice of the 
wicked attempt about the Temple of Isis, and 
will then give an account of the Jewish affairs. 
There was at Rome a woman whose name was 



HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 191 

Paulina— one who, on account of the dignity of 
her ancestors, and by the regular conduct of a 
virtuous life, had a great reputation. She was 
also very rich, and although she was of a beauti- 
ful countenance, and in the flower of her age, 
wherein women are most gay, yet did she lead 
a life of great modesty. She was married to 
Saturninus, one that was in every way answer- 
able to her in an excellent character. Decius 
Mundus, a man very high in the equestrian or- 
der, fell in love with this woman, and, as she 
was of too great dignity to be seduced with 
presents, and had already rejected them, though 
they had been sent in great abundance, he was 
still more inflamed with love for her, insomuch 
that he promised to give her two hundred thou- 
sand Attic drachmae for one night's lodging. 
And when this would not prevail upon her, and 
he was not able to bear this misfortune of his 
amours, he resolved to famish himself to death 
for want of food on account of Paulina's re- 
fusal, and he went on with his purpose accord- 
ingly. 

Now, Mundus had a freedwoman, who had 
been made free by his father, whose name was 
Ide; one skilled in all sorts of mischief. This 
woman was much grieved at the young man's 
resolution to kill himself, for he did not con- 
ceal his intentions to destroy himself from 



192 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

others, and she came to him and encouraged 
him by her discourse, and made him, to hope, by 
some promises she gave him, that he might ob- 
tain a night's lodging with Paulina, and, when 
he joyfully hearkened to her, she said she 
wanted no more than fifty thousand drachmae 
for entrapping the woman. So, when she had 
encouraged the young man and gotten as much 
money as she required, she did not take the same 
methods that had been taken before, because 
she perceived that the woman was by no means 
to be tempted by money. But, as she knew 
that she was much devoted to the worship of 
the goddess Isis, she devised the following 
stratagem: She went to some of Isis' priests, 
and on the strongest assurances of concealment 
she persuaded them by words, but chiefly by the 
offer of twenty-five thousand drachmae in hand, 
and as much more when the thing had taken 
effect, and told them the passion of the young 
man, and persuaded them to use all possible 
means to beguile the woman. So they were 
drawn into promise to do so by that large sum 
of gold they were to have. 

Accordingly, the oldest of them went imme- 
diately to Paulina, and, upon his admittance, 
he desired to speak with her by herself. When 
that was granted him, he told her that he was 
sent by the god Anubis, who was fallen in love 



HISTOKY OF JESUS CHEIST. 193 

with her, and enjoined her to come to him. 
Upon this she took the message very kindly, and 
valued herself greatly upon this condescension 
of the deity, and told her husband that she had 
a message sent her, and was to sup and be with 
Anubis. So he agreed to her acceptance of the 
offer, as fully satisfied with the chastity of his 
wife. Accordingly, she went to the temple, and 
after she had supped there, and it was time to 
go to sleep, the priests shut the doors of the 
temple, where, in the holy part of it, the lights 
were also put out, and she was at his service all 
night, as supposing he was the god. And when 
he was gone away, which was before those 
priests who knew nothing of this stratagem 
were stirring, Paulina came early to her hus- 
band and told him how Anubis had appeared 
to her. Among her friends, also, she declared 
how great a value she put upon this favor. 
They partly disbelieved the thing when they re- 
flected on its nature, and were amazed at it, as 
having no pretext either for not believing it, 
when they considered the modesty and dignity 
of the person. 

But, on the third day after what had been 
done, Mundus met Paulina, and said: "Nay, 
Paulina, thou hast saved me two hundred thou- 
sand drachmas, which sum thou mightest have 
added to thy own family. Yet, hast thou not 



194 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

failed to be at my service in the manner I in- 
vited thee. As for the reproaches thou hast 
laid upon Mundus, I value not the business of 
names; but I rejoice in the pleasure I reaped 
by what I did while I assumed the name of 
Anubis." When he had said this, he went his 
way. 

But now she began to come to the sense of 
the grossness of what she had done, and rent 
her garments, and told her husband of the 
horrid nature of the contrivance, and prayed 
him not to neglect to assist her in this case. So 
he discovered the fact to the emperor, where- 
upon Tiberius inquired into the matter thor- 
oughly by examining the priests about it, and 
ordered them to be crucified as well as Ide, who 
was the occasion of their perdition, and who 
had contrived the whole matter, which was so 
injurious to the woman. He also demolished 
the Temple of Isis, and gave orders that her 
statue should be thrown into the river Tiber. 
But he only banished Mundus, because he sup- 
posed that what crime he had committed was 
done out of the passion of love. 

These were the circumstances which con- 
cerned the Temple of Isis. If Mundus had been 
content with his success, and not desired to 
humiliate Paulina, the priests and Ide would 
not have been crucified nor the Temple of Isis 



HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 195 

demolished. Such, however, is the weakness of 
human nature. 

This tragedy occurred A. D. 33, about the 
time of the crucifixion of Christ. Josephus and 
Christ were about the same age, and Josephus 
was one of Tiberius' governors in the province 
of Tiberius, which included Galilee. His ac- 
count of the Jews is far superior to the books 
of Moses or the prophets. He takes up the 
events, and not only gives a practical under- 
standing and description and the results of the 
different historical events, but gives the motive. 
I read the book with great interest and appre- 
ciated it. The above story of Paulina can be 
found in the works of Josephus. 

Reason is a necessary preliminary to knowl- 
edge, and by reason we learn prudence, virtue, 
justice, and mercy. It is reason that does away 
with superstition. The philosophy of reason 
causes doubt when anything is presented to .our 
mind that is not in accordance with the laws of 
nature; and when we doubt we do not believe. 
iSo it is with Matthew's and Luke's account of 
the conception of Christ. But we know for a 
fact that Christ was born, and we believe that 
his birth was owing to the same physiological 
law of nature by which all animals are born, 
and that he was conceived by the same natural 
law. 



196 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Luke gives a strange account of the concep- 
tion of John the Baptist, and some miraculous 
things, such as the angel, standing by the altar, 
appearing to Zacharias and telling him his wife 
would conceive. This shows that Christ was 
born about the same time that John was. He 
also states that, at the birth of Christ, suddenly 
there was with the angel a multitude of the 
heavenly host, praising God, and so on. I find 
each and every one of these writers tells a differ- 
ent story of the same events. 

Matthew seems to tell more of a miraculous 
story than the others. He speaks of wise men 
who followed a star until they saw it stand over 
the stable in which Christ was born. He also 
mentions an angel appearing to them and tell- 
ing them not to return to Herod, as he had re- 
quested, but to return home some other way. 
''And an angel appeared to Joseph, and told 
him to take the young child and flee to Egypt. ' ' 
I notice that, though John was not taken to 
Egypt or anywhere, yet he was not destroyed 
according to the decree of Herod, 

Luke seems to have kept close watch on Mary 
and Elisabeth after their remarkable concep- 
tion. He says in chapter 1, verse 40, that Mary 
entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted 
Elisabeth. Yerse 41: "And it came to pass that, 
when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, 



HISTOEY OF JESUS CHEIST. 197 

the babe leaped in her womb, and Elisabeth 
was filled with the Holy Ghost." (Fudge!) The 
idea of a child in the womb of one woman be- 
ing influenced by the voice of another woman 
is as hard to believe as any other ghost story. 
These superstitious evangelists are noted for 
extravagant ideas. That Holy Ghost is a kind 
of myth which is brought in on various occa- 
sions by these writers. Matthew sires Christ 
with it, Luke fills Elisabeth with it, and we 
will meet with it very frequently as we proceed. 
In reading their history of this remarkable 
period I feel that we should not connect our 
serious belief in the true God of Creation with 
these ludicrous stories. They, no doubt, are 
built on the traditions of heathen mythology. 
All our useful knowledge is derived from the 
study of science and philosophy. It is the un- 
derstanding of these things that learning con- 
sists of, and, from what I see of the Bible, those 
who wrote it were very ignorant men in the 
sciences; in fact, they were enemies to all 
schools of science, and for centuries used all 
their power and influence to curb them. While 
church and state were closely connected, the 
teachers of science were persecuted. Galileo and 
Vergillius were made examples of— one for dis- 
covering the world was round, the other for dis- 
covering the telescope. Notwithstanding, the 



198 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

theologians claim that the Bible writers and 
the writers of the New Testament were men 
especially inspired by God to write those books 
which they call the word of God. 

We find that they were wrongly instructed as 
to the shape of the earth. As they must admit 
that God, who made it as well as all the other 
planets, not only knew its shape, but also its 
regular revolutions, it is presumable that He 
would not have purposely deceived the men 
whom he inspired. Therefore, this idea of di- 
vine inspiration is fabulous as well as what they 
have written. The real inspired men are the 
scientific astronomers and mathematicians, who 
not only discovered the shape of the planets, 
but their revolutions, and calculated to a minute 
when the moon will get between the earth and 
the sun, thus causing an eclipse. 

If the priests of the Church put Vergillius to 
death, because he was the first man who said 
he knew the earth was round, for he saw its 
shadow on the moon, what, then, would have 
been the fate, in those days, of anyone who 
would have predicted to the minute when an 
eclipse would occur? It would have been said 
he was in league with the devil, or that he was 
a magician, and he would have been burnt at 
the stake. The knowledge of God's natural laws 
was kept back for centuries, because the think- 



HISTOEY OF JESUS CHKlttT. 199 

ing men were intimidated by the Church, and 
were prevented from teaching anything that 
would destroy its superstitions theory. 

If such a man as Huxley had existed in those 
days, and explained the cause of earthquakes, 
and attempted to do away with the idea that 
they were a judgment sent by God, the people 
would have taken him for a lunatic and driven 
him from among their very enlightened com- 
munity. Some of the preachers of to-day who 
have a very limited knowledge of science still 
think these natural calamities are sent by God. 
I, not long since, saw in a paper that a certain 
divine stated to his congregation that the great 
disastrous earthquake at San Francisco was a 
judgment sent on the people, for their wicked- 
ness. This ignorant preacher thinks God ex- 
tended his wrath on the little children that were 
crushed and burned to death in that fire. His 
sort were very much in vogue some years ago. 
When there occurred a famine in India, and I 
recollect one occurred in Ireland, the preachers 
begged for money to send those people, after 
preaching judgments. This looks very incon- 
sistent. They were trying to raise means to 
prevent God executing his judgment. I expect, 
however, more went into their pockets than to 
the famishing people. 



200 HISTOKY OF JESUS CHKIST. 

Since, however, by the ingenuity of scientific 
men, they have constructed railroads and the 
gigantic ocean steamers that plough their way 
at the rate of twenty miles an hour, and by the 
help of the generous people throughout the 
civilized world, these misfortunes are modified to 
a great extent, and the so-called judgments of 
these ignorant and superstitious slanderers of 
God have ceased to starve whole nations. While 
they pray and preach judgment from God, those 
who are not judged fill ships and send money 
for relief. 

I will now proceed with the story told by 
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These writers 
write as if they were all associates and were 
together with Christ. If so, why do they differ 
so widely in their statements. Matthew, the 
most extravagant of them all, is the only one 
who gives the account of Herod destroying all 
the children under two years. Neither of the 
other three mentions it. It seems such a cruel 
and general murder would have been known to 
them all. 

Chapter 2, verse 15: "Then Herod, when he 
saw that he was mocked, was exceeding wroth, 
and sent forth and slew all the children that 
were in Bethlehem and all the coast, from two 
years and under. Matthew endeavors to show 
in various ways that Christ was predicted by 



HISTOKY OF JESUS CHEIST. 201 

the so-called prophet. He quotes him. Verse 
17 : " Then was fulfilled that which was spoken 
by Jeremy, the prophet, saying [verse 18] : 
'In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation 
and weeping, and great mourning. Eachel weep- 
ing for her children, and would not be com- 
forted.' " Because they were not to associate 
Herod's butchering the children of Bethlehem 
with Rachel weeping for her children is too ab- 
surd; but his other claims to prove from the 
prophets are equally as foolish. 

I will now show the various instances where 
these writers differ in relating what occurred 
while writing of Christ. I will carefully go 
through each book and select important pas- 
sages. I will remark that Matthew's dramatic 
and historic recital in the third chapter brings 
us to the time Christ was baptized by John. I 
will now give the genealogy of Christ by 
Matthew and Luke in a tabular form. The other 
two have not pretended to keep up his pedigree. 
Matthew and Luke seem to think it very neces- 
sary to make him a descendant of the royal 
stock of David, to fulfill the prophecy. They 
should have attempted to prove that Mary was 
the descendant of David, as Joseph was not the 
father of Christ; and allowing that Joseph was 
a descendant of David would not make Christ 
a descendant also. 



202 



HISTORY QF JESUS CHRIST. 



Pedigree According 
to Matthew: 

1. Christ 

2. Joseph, or Ghost 

3. Jacob 

4. Matthan 

5. Eleazer 

6. Elind 

7. Achim 

8. Sadoc 

9. Azor 

10. Eliakim 

11. Abind 

12. Zorabable 

13. Salathise 

14. Jaehonias 

15. Josias 

16. Amon 

17. Manasses 

18. Ezekias 

19. Achaz 

20. Joatham 

21. Ozis 

22. Joram 

23. Josaphat 

24. Asa 

25. Abia 

26. Raboam 

27. Solomon 

28. David 



Pedigree According 
to Luke: 

1. Christ 

2. Joseph, or Ghost 

3. Hadi 

4. Matthat 

5. Levi 

6. Melchi 

7. Janna 

8. Joseph 

9. Mattathisis 

10. Amos 

11. Naum 

12. Esli 

13. Naggs 

14. Maath 

15. Mattathias 

16. Semi 

17. Joseph 

18. Juda 

19. Joanna 

20. Rhisa 

21. Zorobabel 

22. Salathice 

23. Nici 

24. Melchi 

25. Addi 

26. Cosam 

27. Elmodam 

28. Er 



HISTORY OF JESUS CHEIST. 203 

Pedigree According 
to Luke: 

29. Jose 

30. Eliezer 

31. Jorim 

32. Matthas 

33. Levi 

34. Simeon 

35. Juda 

36. Joseph 

37. Jonan 

38. Elakim 

39. Melea 

40. Mirian 

41. Mattatha 

42. Nathan 

43. David 

Matthew succeeded in getting back to David 
with twenty-eight generations. Luke did as 
well, but he required forty-three. But they both 
did what they intended to do; that is, to trace 
his genealogy to David. From Solomon to Christ 
was about one thousand years according to Bible 
chronology. Therefore, the accounts given by 
both these writers are false on the face of them. 
How, then, are we to believe these unnatural 
stories about Christ being the Son of God be- 
gotten by a ghost, when they differ about his 
natural genealogy, in which they both make 
false statements. It matters not with us whether 



204 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Christ descended from David or not. It does 
not alter the fact that he is the best, the most 
moral, the most beautiful, character the world 
has ever produced. Setting aside the supersti- 
tious and fraudulent idea that he is the son of 
God, begotten by a ghost, think of him as a 
true Deist, which he undoubtedly was. He never 
claimed to be anything else. He was a religious 
reformer, and the moral system he taught has 
not been surpassed or improved on since. 

Previous to going into the, life that Christ 
lived according to what I will find in the New 
Testament, and voted, over three hundred years 
after Christ died, to be the inspired word of 
God, written by whom no one knows, I wish to 
state, from what I notice and learn by reading, 
that the time is not far distant when Christ 
will be known as he really was, and the idea of 
the Church prescribing what it calls the " Apos- 
tles ' Creed, ' ' dividing God, as it were, into three 
parts, called the "Trinity," will be exploded. 
This creed is taken from the obscene, fabulous 
nonsense of a woman debauched, in the name of 
God, by a ghost. Belief in this is what the 
Church calls "faith." What is called "faith 
in revealed religion" will be abolished, and our 
churches will be scientific schools of philosophy, 
where the beautiful system of religion and 
morality of Christ wi 1 ! b<* taught. 



HISTOKY OF JESUS CHEIST. 205 

If a young woman of to-day should say she 
became pregnant by cohabiting with a ghost, 
and went before a justice of the peace and made 
solemn oath to it, no one would believe her, and, 
if the story of Mary was printed in any book 
but the New Testament, it would not be credited. 

Jesus Christ founded no new system of re- 
ligion. The main traits of his beautiful char- 
acter were morality, philanthropy, and, we 
might add, philosophy, for he understood human 
nature well. His vocation was to lead men to 
morality and virtue, and to a correct belief in 
our God, for there was no other till after his 
death, and he was created hy the Church 
mythologists, who also tell us that Christ came 
to die for the sins of the world, and that was 
the sole purpose for which he came. The man- 
ner of his arrest shows plainly that he avoided 
being captured. He had ceased to preach in 
public. Another fact is that he was not known 
to the men who were sent to arrest him. They 
were compelled to bribe one of his followers to 
point him out to them. His divinity did not 
exist at this time, for the idea of God's con- 
cealing himself from man is too contemptible. 
The. fact of his trying to avoid being arrested 
shows beyond a doubt, to a reasonable mind, 
that he did not intend to be crucified. 



206 HISTORY OF JESUS CHEIST. 

The whole story of the capture of Christ is 
anything but what it pretends to be. It is the 
reverse of truth. The four books— Matthew, 
Mark, Luke, and John— are only stories telling 
things after they had taken place. They tell 
what Jesus said and did at different times, and 
what was said and done to him by others. I 
notice they frequently differ in relating the 
same thing in their account of the crucifixion. 
Matthew, chapter 26: "While Peter sat without 
in the palace, a damsel came to him, saying, 
'Thou also was with Jesus of Galilee.' " Verse 
70: "But he denied them all, saying, 'I know 
not what thou sayest.' Then another maid saw 
him, and said, 'This fellow was also with Jesus 
of Nazareth.' And again he denied with an 
oath, ' I do not know the man. ' ' ' Verse 73 : 
"Others came and said, 'Surely, thou also art 
one of them, for thy speech betrayeth thee.' " 
Verse 74 : " Then began he to curse and to swear, 
saying, 'I know not the man.' " Not one of 
the other three says a word of Peter perjuring 
himself. 

Chapter 27 : " And they set up over his head 
his accusation, written, 'This is Jesus, the King 
of the Jews.' " Each of the other three gives 
a different inscription, which seems strange, as 
the inscriptions given by all of them were short. 
The longest is that given by John, which reads : 



HISTOBY OF JESUS CHEIST. 207 

"Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." This 
does not amount to much, only it creates a doubt 
in my mind whether they were there or not. I 
believe they were not. Matthew states that, 
when Jesus yielded up the ghost [verse 51], 
"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent 
in twain from the top to the bottom, and the 
earth did quake, and the, rocks were rent." 
Verse 52: "And the graves were opened, and 
many bodies of the saints which slept arose." 
Verse 53: "And came out of the graves after 
their resurrection, and went into the holy city, 
and appeared to man." These very remarkable 
occurrences— of darkness, the earthquake, the 
opening of the graves, and people arising there- 
from, and the parting of the veil in the tem- 
ple—are not mentioned by Mark, Luke, or John. 
This is Matthew 's account of the Resurrec- 
tion : " On the first day of the week came Mary 
Magdalene and the other Mary to see, the 
sepulchre." Chapter 28, verse 2: "And, be- 
hold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel 
of the Lord descended from heaven, and came 
and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat 
upon it." Verse 3: "His countenance was like 
lightning, and his raiment was white as snow." 
Verse 4 : " And for fear of him the keepers did 
shake, and become as dead men," This very 



208 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

marvelous story is very different from the 
others. 

Here is Mark's account, in chapter 16, verse 
1: "And when the Sabbath was past, Mary 
Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and 
Salome had brought sweet spices that they 
might come and anoint him." Verse 2: "And 
very early in the morning, the first of the week, 
they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of 
the sun." Verse 4: "And when they looked 
they saw that the stone was rolled away, for 
it was very great." Verse 5: "And entering 
into the sepulchre they saw a young man sitting 
on the right side, clothed in a long white gar- 
ment, and they were affrighted." Verse 9: 
"Now, when Jesus was risen, he appeared first 
to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast 
seven devils." 

Luke's account, chapter 24: "Now, upon the 
first day of the week, very early in the morning, 
they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the 
spices which they had prepared, and certain 
others, with them. ' ' Verse 2 : " And they found 
the stone rolled away from the sepulchre." 
Verse 3: "And they entered in and found not 
the body of the Lord Jesus." Verse 4: "And it 
came to pass, as they were much perplexed 
thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in 
shining garments." Verse 10: "It was Mary 



HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 209 

Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary, the mother 
of James, and other women that were with 
them, which told these things unto the Apos- 
tles." Verse 11: "And their words seemed to 
them as idle tales, and they believed them not." 
Verse 12: "Then arose Peter, and ran unto the 
sepulchre, and, stooping down, he beheld the 
linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, 
wondering in himself at that which was come 
to pass." 

John's account: "The first day of the week 
cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet 
dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone 
taken away from the sepulchre." Verse 2: 
1 1 Then she runneth, and cometh to iSimon Peter, 
and to the other disciples whom Jesus loved, and 
saith unto them, 'They have taken away the 
Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not 
where they have laid him.' " Verse 3: "Peter, 
therefore, went forth, and that other disciple, 
and came to the sepulchre. ' ' Verse 4 : "So they 
ran both together, and the other disciple did 
outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. ' ' 
Verse 5: "And he, stooping down and looking 
in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet, went he not 
in." Verse 11: "But Mary stood without at 
the sepulchre, weeping; and, as she wept, she 
stooped down and looked into the sepulchre." 
Verse 12: "And seeth two angels in white, sit- 



210 HISTOKY OF JESUS CHEIST. 

ting, the one at the head, and the other at the 
feet, where the body of Jesus had lain." Verse 
16: "Jesus saith unto her, 'Mary!' She turned 
herself, and saith unto him, ' Rabboni ! ' which is 
to say, 'Master!' " Verse 17: "Jesus saith unto 
her, 'Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended 
to my Father; but go to my brethren and say 
unto them I ascend unto my Father and your 
Father, and to my God and to your God. ' ' ' 

Who could curb their reason to allow them- 
selves to believe such stuff as this writer has 
credited to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ? We 
only know that there was no New Testament till 
three hundred years after the death of Christ. 
Should four men go before a court and give in 
their testimony of what they had witnessed 
separately to the court, the court would have to 
decide their testimony is false, and not worthy 
of belief. 

Christ never wrote any account of his birth. 
He was a most virtuous and exemplary man. 
The beautiful moral system that he preached 
was altogether benevolent. Though similar sys- 
tems have been preached by philosophers and 
the best of men, such as Benjamin Franklin 
and other good men in other civilized countries, 
it has not been surpassed, or, I might say, 
equaled, by any. I look on the Christian theory 
of the present day as a kind of idolatry, prac- 



HISTOEY OF JESUS CHKIST. 211 

ticed for the purpose of power and revenue, 
and my purpose is to call philosophy and reason 
to abolish the fraud. 

I will now, as I have done with his resurrec- 
tion, examine his ascension or departure from 
the world. Of course, as he was brought into 
the world in a supernatural way, it will be 
necessary to use the same means to get him out 
of it. 

Matthew, verse 16 : * * Then the eleven disciples 
went away into Galilee into a mountain, where 
Jesus had appointed to meet them. ' ' Verse 17 : 
''And when they saw him they worshiped him; 
but some doubted." Verse 18: "And Jesus 
came and spake unto them, saying, 'All power 
is given unto me in heaven and in earth.' " 
Verse 19: " 'Go ye, therefore, and teach all na- 
tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. ' ' ' 

Mark, chapter 16: verse 14: "Afterwards, he 
appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, 
and upbraided them with their unbelief and 
their hardness of heart, because they believed 
not them which had seen him after he was 
risen." Verse 15: "And he said untoi them, 
'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel 
to every creature.' " Verse 16: " 'He that be- 
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved; but he 
that believeth not shall be damned.' " Verse 



212 HISTOEY OF JESUS CHEIST. 

17: " 'And these signs shall follow them: In 
my name shall they cast out devils. They shall 
speak with new tongues. They shall take up 
serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it 
shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on 
the sick and they shall recover.' " Verse 19: 
"So, then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, 
he was received up into heaven, and sat on the 
right hand of God." 

Luke, chapter 24, verse 50 : ' * And he led them 
out as far as to Bethany; and he lifted up his 
hands and blessed them." Verse 51: "And it 
came to pass, while he blessed them, he was 
parted from them and carried up into heaven." 

John does not give any account of his ascen- 
sion, but states that Jesus showed himself to 
the disciples on the sea of Tiberius, also two 
other times ; but does not mention his departure. 

I notice they all differ as to place and man- 
ner of his ascension. Mark gives the most ex- 
travagant account of any of them. He says 
Jesus endowed them with the ability to swallow 
poisons with impunity, to handle serpents, to 
heal the sick by laying on of the hands. 

In a miraculous manner he came, and in a 
miraculous way he departed; but no two of the 
disciples give anything like the same account. 
The conclusion is they were all manufactured. 



HISTOKY OF JESUS CHEIST. 213 

To a reasonable mind, if Christ, after his 
resurrection, desired that the world should be- 
lieve in it, as all fear of the Jews was now at 
an end, why did he not appoint a time for his 
ascension at some public place in Jerusalem, so 
that all who wished could see for themselves? 
The proof of a thing which everyone is expected 
to believe should be made visible to all. Then 
it would become an historical fact. Pilate, who 
ordered his execution, the soldiers who executed 
him, the priests who caused it, and all who 
knew him, would have been convinced by ocular 
demonstration that he not only arose bodily 
from the dead, but ascended in open daylight 
to heaven ; but, instead of this, only a few knew 
anything of it, and they tell different stories, 
and expect the whole world to believe what 
they say. It seems, from their account, that 
not all of the disciples believed in the resurrec- 
tion. Thomas required not only ocular demon- 
stration, but he had to satisfy himself by 
thrusting his fingers into the wounds made by 
the spear in Jesus' side. Now, I claim the same 
right as Thomas before I can be made to be- 
lieve so unnatural a story, fabricated by I do 
not know whom. 

There is not a single instance that Christ ex- 
pressed himself as believing but in one God. 
He, in every instance, proved himself a true 



214 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Deist. When he was asked the question whether 
it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not, 
he replied as given in the following quotation: 

Mark, chapter 12, verse 15: " Shall we give, 
or shall we not give? Jesus, knowing their 
hypocrisy, said unto them, 'Why tempt me; 
bring me a penny that I may see it. ' " Verse 16 : 
"And they brought it, and he saith unto them, 
'Whose is this image and superscription?' And 
they said, 'Caesar's.' " Verse 17: "And Jesus, 
answering, said unto them, 'Render unto Caesar 
the things that are Caesar's, and to God the 
things that are God's.' " Verse 32: "And the 
scribe said unto him, 'Well, Master, thou hast 
said the truth, for there is one God, and there 
is none other but he.' ", 

In reading through the books of the New Tes- 
tament I feel intuitively, as it were, what to 
credit Christ with, on account of his simple but 
unanswerable sayings. He also was a good 
judge of human nature, and readily detected 
deceit and hypocrisy. In all his charitable deeds 
he said to the one who received his benefits to 
tell no one of it. 

This writer of Matthew relates so many ex- 
travagant and unreasonable things of Christ 
that they are too ridiculous to mention, such as 
the devil taking him and sitting him on the 
pinnacle of the Temple: 



HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 215 

Matthew, chapter 4, verse 8: "Again, the 
devil taketh him up into an exceeding high 
mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of 
the world and the glory of them. ' ' Verse 9 : 
"And saith unto him, 'All these things I will 
give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship 
me."' 

I think this would cause a blush on even a 
priest's cheek to claim as the word of God that 
which we read in this book called the New Tes- 
tament. I am sometimes in doubt whether the 
Old Testament can outlie the New. What object 
had this narrator in telling this absurd lie? 
How could the devil show the whole world from 
the top of a mountain? He certainly did not 
see America nor anything farther than the eye 
can reach. And, again, where did the devil get 
his title to all the kingdoms of the earth? In 
the first place, this devil no longer exists except 
in the minds of the priests. They still keep 
him to frighten the credulous. 

Matthew has the most admirable and beautiful 
chapters in the whole Bible. Chapter 7 gives 
the Sermon on the Mount. Here Christ shows 
his wisdom, his unequaled benevolence, and love. 
There is nothing lacking. All that is necessary 
to lead a just and moral life is in this sermon. 
If Christ saved the world, it was by this sermon. 
The priests take a portion for their collection 



216 HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

service: "Let your light so shine before men 
that they may see your good works, and glorify 
your Father which is in heaven." I think there 
is some interpolation, but am satisfied the most 
of it was from Christ. At any rate, we have 
the sermon, and it is excellent. 

The writer, in his narrative, tells of many 
miracles at different places, such as feeding 
five thousand men, besides women and children, 
after which were gathered twelve basketfuls of 
fragments. This was done with five loaves and 
two fishes. Jesus' walking on the water, heal- 
ing the sick, restoring the sight of the blind, 
are also related. Matthew makes Christ say 
that he would be betrayed into the hands of 
men, and they would kill him, and the third day 
he would rise again; but, strange to say, he 
was but one day and two nights in the grave— 
Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night. 
He arose early Sunday morning. Some said be- 
fore sunrise, while it was yet dark; others said 
it was at sunrise. 

There is one remarkable occurrence that the 
others knew nothing about. Chapter 17: Jesus 
takes Peter, James, and John, his brother, to a 
high mountain, and was transfigured before 
them. "And his face did shine like the sun, and 
his raiment was white as the light." Verse 3: 



HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. 217 

"And, behold, there appeared Moses and Elias 
talking with him." 

I will cease to quote these unnatural and 
miraculous things that Christ is made a party 
to. They are too unreasonable for belief, and 
we only have this writer's statement, and he is 
quite addicted to letting his imagination run 
wild in his narrations. I am convinced, after 
going through these four books, that they were 
not written by the Apostles or anyone who was 
an eyewitness of what is stated in them, because 
of the great difference in their statements, and 
because there is no account of the New Testa- 
ment till after three hundred years from the 
death of Christ, and because much of it relates 
to the impossible, and because I think men can 
write lies, but do not believe nature deviates 
from her course. 



218 ACTS. 



ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 

We will now consider what is called the 
4 'Acts of the Apostles," of which Patil becomes 
the chief actor. Paul, it seems, was originally 
a pagan, who lived in Jerusalem, and was in 
love with one of the high priest's daughters. He 
caused himself to be circumcised, and was used 
by the high priest to persecute the Christians, 
of whom he caused many to be imprisoned, and 
some murdered. He tells a remarkable story of 
his being sent by the high priest to go to Damas- 
cus to capture Christians. "While on the way, 
he says (Acts, chapter 22, verse 6) : " Suddenly 
there shone from heaven a great light round 
about me." Verse 7: "And I fell unto the 
ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, 
Saul! Saul! Why persecutest thou meV " 
Verse 8: "And I answered, 'Who art thou, 
Lord?' And he said unto me, 'I am Jesus of 
Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. ' ' ' Verse 9 : 
"And they that were with me saw, indeed, the 
light, and were afraid, but they heard not the 
voice of him that spake to me." It appears 
from his statement that he was struck down and 
was blind till the devout man at Damascus 
spoke to him, and told him to receive his sight. 

I will quote another miraculous story to show 
that this writer is similar to those who wrote 
the so-called Gospels : 



ACTS. 219 



Acts, chapter 12: "Now, about that time, 
Herod, the king, stretched forth his hands to 
vex certain of the Church." Verse 2: "And 
he killed James, the brother of John, with the 
sword. He then took Peter." Verse 6: "And, 
when Herod would have brought him forth, the 
same night Peter was sleeping between two sol- 
diers, bound with two chains, and the keeper 
before the door kept the prison." Verse 1 7: 
"And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon 
him, and a light shined in the prison, and he 
smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, say- 
ing /Arise up quickly,' and his chains fell off 
from his hands. ' ' Verse 10 : " They came to an 
iron gate that opened on its own account, and 
forthwith the angel departed from him." 

The most of the following chapters are filled 
with stories of miraculous escapes by the aid of 
the angel of the Lord, and causing the Holy 
Ghost to fall on people. The whole of his dis- 
course is founded on the death and resurrection 
of Jesus Christ, and what he says of it is 
altogether hearsay. He says some very foolish 
things, among them miraculous stories of angels 
appearing, releasing prisoners, etc. They remind 
me of the story of Paust and his demon, who 
wafted him from place to place, and enabled 
him to perform so many remarkable feats. 



220 FIRST CORINTHIANS. 



FIRST CORINTHIANS. 

First Corinthians, chapter 15, is altogether ar- 
gumentative, with poor, silly illustrations. Verse 
16: "For, if the dead rise not, then is Christ 
not risen." Verse 17: "And, if Christ is not 
raised, your faith is vain. Ye yet are in your 
sins." Verse 19: "If in this life only we have 
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miser- 
able." 

There is nothing here to prove the resurrec- 
tion. Argument is used to discuss a subject 
pro and con, but by proof he comes to no con- 
clusive point. He states Christ was seen first by 
Cephas, then by Timothy. Verse 6: "He was 
seen by about five hundred." Verse 8: "And, 
last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one 
born out of due time. ' ' This is simple nonsense. 
He makes an illustration of the resurrection by 
the germinating of seed. Verse 35: "But some 
will say, 'How are the dead to rise up, and with 
what body do they come?' " Verse 36: "Thou 
fool! That which thou sowest is not quickened 
except it die." This is not so. If a seed dies, 
or, in other words, rots in the ground, it does 
not germinate. Further, this is no illustration 
of the resurrection of the body. It is only re- 
production. We can, therefore, say: "Paul, 
thou fool ! That which we sow does not quicken 



FIEST CORINTHIANS. 



if it does not live, for the grain that dies in the 
ground never vegetates.' * Then he states (verse 
39) : "All flesh is not the same flesh. But there 
is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of 
beast, another of fishes, and another of birds/ ' 
Verse 40: "There are, also, celestial bodies and 
bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial 
is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is an- 
other.' ' Verse 41: "There is one glory of the 
sun, and another glory of the moon, and another 
glory of the stars, for one star differeth from 
another star in glory." 

The different Christian sects make this non- 
sensical, illusionary harangue part of their burial 
service. Sift it as we may, we find it destitute 
of meaning. It illustrates nothing. It only con- 
fuses the mind of the credulous to no purpose. 
It only proves, to* my mind, that this writer was 
a very poor naturalist and indifferent philos- 
opher; but his statement that he saw Christ, 
who was dead, before he was born, makes him to 
be a prevaricator. 

Paul's idea of the resurrection of the natural 
body, as explained, or, rather, not explained, by 
him, is irrational and altogether unnecessary to 
our belief in immortality, for it is not the body 
in its natural form that is conscious of exist- 
ence, but the mind. We see men who have lost 
one-third of their bodies still retain their minds, 



222 FIBST COEINTHIANS. 

and are conscious that they are the same beings 
as when they were whole. There is a very beau- 
tiful illustration of resurrection, in a different 
form, in the insect creation, which, if we did not 
know from experience to be true, we would not 
believe. The beautiful butterfly we see under- 
went the change from a caterpillar to the death- 
like chrysalis, then became the beautiful winged 
creature we behold. Therefore, we who believe 
in the one all-powerful Creator need not trouble 
ourselves as to the form in which God will con- 
tinue our immortality. It is the consciousness 
that we have immortal life, in whatever form 
God pleases to give us, that sustains us in this 
world. Of course, I do not know, and it is im- 
possible to find out for certain, that there is an 
existence after this life. One. man knows as 
much of the hereafter as another, and that is 
nothing; but every reasoning being has some- 
thing within him that causes him to hope for a 
future existence, and that hope is so strong that 
it stands in the place of belief. "We are none 
of us responsible for our existence ; we are only 
creatures of God's natural law. 

I will here give my views of what might be 
called my religious belief. I believe in one just 
and merciful God. I am grateful to him for all 
his blessings. I do not believe that God will- 
fuly sends afflictions on any of his creatures. 



FIRST CORINTHIANS. 



They are always due to the unalterable laws of 
nature. Hence, disease is a consequence of a 
violation of some physiological law. I do not 
believe in either salvation or redemption by the 
blood of Christ, or by that of anybody else. I be- 
lieve that redemption is within the control of 
every reasoning man and woman. Their own 
moral life is regulated by the force of their be- 
lief in God, and they could not feel at ease to 
do a thing that was wrong and could not be con- 
cealed from God or themselves. We are hap- 
piest when we make others happy. No one can 
be happy unless he loves someone. I have 
necessarily, as a physician, devoted my life for 
the benefit of others, and nothing has given me 
more pleasure than to relieve the sufferings of 
those in distress. 

I have often thought that, if it were not for 
opium, chloroform, and other therapeutic agents 
that relieve pain and give ease and rest to the 
suffering, I would not practice medicine, for to 
see suffering and not be able to give, at least, 
temporary relief, would cause sympathetic pain 
to me. Therefore, I believe the best way to serve 
God is to be kind and just to our fellow-man. I 
do not believe persons can commit a sin against 
God without willfully injuring themselves or 
someone else, or being wantonly cruel to a living 
creature. I believe that we should enjoy our- 



224 FIKST COEINTHIANS. 

selves as much as possible, and make life pleas- 
ant for those around us. I do not fear God. 
I live a moral life from love and devotion to 
Him, not fear. To fear death seems foolish to 
me. It is just as natural to die as it is to be 
born, and to fear it does not alter the fact that 
it will come sooner or later. I feel that, if God 
had power to create me, He alsoi has the power 
to take care of me. The priests will say I will 
scorch for believing thusly, but my trust is in 
God, not in salvation by the intervention of a 
priest or extreme unction, and I believe God 
will find me whether holy water is sprinkled on 
my grave or not. 



EETELATIONS. 225 



REVELATIONS. 

I have read this book through, and I think 
the writer was a lunatic, with his imagination 
run wild. He seems to have been in a huge 
menagerie, with the devil for a showman. If I 
had the genius of the great Shakespeare, I could 
not frame words sufficient to express my in- 
dignation at such unreasonable stuff to be called 
the word of God. It may do for the priests to 
bewilder the minds of the credulous, and 
frighten the weak-minded. Such unearthly 
fabrications are calculated to unhinge reason in 
a mind that attempts to find any sense in them. 
Statistics show that the great majority of the 
persons in insane asylums lost their reason on 
account of religion. After reading Revelations 
I do not wonder at the fact. I will quote a few 
sights this writer says he saw: 

Chapter 12, verse 3: "And, behold, a great 
red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, 
and seven crowns upon his hJeads. ,, Verse 4: 
"And his tail drew the third part of the stars 
of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. And 
the dragon stood before the woman which was 
ready to be delivered, for to devour her child 
as soon as it was born." Verse 5: "And she 
brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all 
nations with an iron rod, and her child was 



226 BEVELATIONS. 



caught up unto God and to his throne." Verse 
6: "And the woman was given two wings of a 
great eagle, that she might fly into the wilder- 
ness into her place, where she is nourished for a 
time, and times, and a half a time, from the 
face of the serpent." 

Chapter 20: "And I saw an angel come down 
from heaven, having the key of the bottomless 
pit and a great chain in his hand." Verse 2: 
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old ser- 
pent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound 
him a thousand years." Verse 3: "And cast 
him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, 
and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive 
the nations no more till the thousand years 
should be fulfilled, and after that he must be 
loosed a little season." Verse 7: "And, when 
the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be 
loosed out of his prison." Verse 8: "And shall 
go out to deceive those which are in the four 
quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather 
them together to battle, the number of whom is 
as the sands of the sea." Verse 9: "And they 
went up on the breadth of the earth and com- 
passed the camp of the saints about, and the 
beloved city; and firt came down from God out 
of heaven and devoured them." Verse 10: 
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into 
the lake of fire and brimstone." 



EEVELATIONS. 227 



This John seems to be trying to tell that ho 
has seen more than anyone else. I think hie has 
succeeded in trying to describe more than he 
saw, and drifted into foolish lies in the most 
ridiculous and hyperbolical way his imagination 
would allow. To explain any part of this so- 
called revelation is beyond the philosopher. The 
priests alone can find any excuse for calling this 
supernatural and horrible statement to be the 
revelation or word of God. They may explain 
in their allegorical manner these visions to con- 
fuse the minds of their already-deluded people, 
whose minds have been from childhood taught 
this doctrine of salvation and redemption by 
faith in what has been prescribed by the 
Church. 



228 THE CHUBCH. 



THE CHURCH. 

By their explanation of these books, the 
priests and the Church have created .^or us a 
system of religion very different indeed from 
the character of Christ. It is a religion of 
pomp and of revenue. This scare called 
''purgatory," as established in the minds of 
their subjects, is a great source of revenue, as 
the souls of the departed can only be released 
from their purgatorial environment by prayers 
bought of the Church with money given for the 
purpose by their earthly relatives or friends. 
Priests also sell to their deluded followers par- 
dons and indulgences. 

The Church substitutes for the crucified Christ 
the myth called the "Holy Ghost," the Virgin 
Mary, and an army of saints. They no longer 
pray directly to God, but to these saints. Christ 
did not, at any time, acknowledge more than 
one God, and neither will I. This Holy Ghost is 
represented as descending in the shape of a dove 
at one time, entering into a woman at another, 
and cohabiting with a virgin at another. It, to 
me, is destitute of all meaning, and only con- 
fuses the mind with a shadow, in order to usurp 
the place of God. 

History shows the Church to have been the 
greatest enemy to morality, to humanity, to 



THE CHUECH. 229 



scientific progress, to peace, to brotherly love, 
to the knowledge of the true God. It has made 
religion a curse instead of a blessing. It is 
founded on falsehood, superstition, and deceit. 
It has caused more bloodshed and torture to 
mankind than all the other differences or all 
other subjects that were ever known between 
men, and has been the cause of wars between 
nations since the world began. All churches 
claim their authority to be from God. The Jews 
claim Moses met with God face to face, and God 
gave him his written word. The Mohammedans 
claim their word of God was handed to them by 
an angel from heaven. The Christians claim 
that the word of God was written for them by 
men specially inspired by God. They add Jesus 
Christ, his Apostles, the Holy Ghost, and a lot 
of saints. 

In the first place, how are we to know all this 
is true? The Jews only had Moses' word. The 
Turks only had Mohammed's say-so. The Chris- 
tians say their inspired word of God was de- 
cided by the vote of seventy men. I think if the 
romantic story of Ben-Hur had existed at the 
time, it would have been the word of God, as 
Ben-Hur was a close follower of Christ from 
the time of his baptism by John. 

I will begin with the Jews, and will have but 
little to say about them. I commend them, for, 



230 THE CHURCH. 



after all the persecutions they have undergone, 
they have been true in their faith in, and wor- 
ship of, the one living God. Civilization has 
caused them to cease the business of murder- 
ing women and children, and offering so many 
sacrifices of animals, and sprinkling so much 
blood roundabout. Moses has lost his grip on 
them, and they are in morality equal to any of 
the Christian races, and make good citizens 
among all nations. The legend of the martyr- 
dom of the Maccabees shows what inhuman tor- 
ture they underwent, and with what fortitude 
they suffered the most cruel deaths rather than 
renounce their faith. To read the account of 
their cruel execution will cause the most un- 
feeling heart to shudder. Civilization and edu- 
cation, as well as association, have modified their 
ideas of religion. They now find bacon and ham 
made from the once-forbidden swine both whole- 
some and palatable food. They still hold to 
the idea of circumcision and practice it, but 
they allow their daughters to marry with the 
uncircumcised. They trouble themselves very 
little about other persons ' ideas of religion. They 
live at peace with all nations. 
. All the Christians claim that the Church was 
not established by the sword. If they mean 
in the time of Christ, it is true. Christ, at no 
time, used force or coercion. His only argu- 



THE CHUBCH. 231 



ment was simple, moral truth. He was a peace- 
ful reformer. His only crime was that he was 
gaining too many followers. This, and this 
only, caused envy and a feeling of insecurity 
in the minds of the Jewish priests. They saw 
that, if his popularity was allowed to go on, 
they would lose their high stations. Christ de- 
nounced their wickedness openly, and showed 
their hypocrisy too plainly, and this was why 
he lost his life. The idea the Church sets forth 
and supports is that Christ came into the world 
to be crucified, and praises and adores him for 
his self-sacrifice. It then turns around and 
abuses and condemns the Jews for doing what 
was absolutely necessary to carry out its theory 
of redemption. This is too absurd, to say the 
least of it. 

I return to the question of the sword. It was 
impossible, until centuries after the execution 
of Christ, to begin with arms to enforce the 
Christian religion on unbelievers. But, since 
then, history is filled with religious wars. The 
sword, the stake, the rack, and the torch were 
the strongest arguments employed. As soon as 
Christians gained the power, persecution began. 
The Bible was established by the sword 
altogether, and they made the most wicked use 
of it. They did not try to convert, but to de- 
stroy all. It, then, is false to say that the 



232 THE CHURCH. 



Church was not forced on people by the sword. 
The priests will have to destroy all the books 
giving the history of what has occurred in the 
whole of Europe from the third century to the 
present time before they can hope, to be be- 
lieved when they say that the sword and all 
other horrid instruments of torture were not 
used by them. 

While I was in Rome, in January, 1905, I 
visited the National Museum. After looking at 
all other things of interest, I asked the man 
who conducted me around to let me see the rack, 
1 ' The Affectionate Maid, ' ' the thumbscrews, and 
other instruments used by the priests, during 
the period of the Inquisition, to persuade their 
victims that their idea of salvation was the only 
true one. My conductor informed me that the 
Pope had sent a petition to the king, requesting 
that, for some time each year, at a certain sea- 
son, those things might be locked out of sight. 
The king refused for a long time, but at last 
consented. My guide said, however, that there 
was a way to obtain a permit, and I could see 
them. I did not care to take the trouble, as I 
had seen drawings of them before. I do not 
blame the Pope for wanting them hidden away, 
for I would not wish anyone to see those fearful 
instruments of torture used by the Popes who 
were at the head of the Church when they were 



THE CHUECH. 



in use. What is worse, they said that all this 
cruelty was practiced, and untold misery was 
caused, solely for the love of Christ. 

The Church is beginning to grow old. It was 
during its adulterous coalition with the state 
that it was in its zenith of power. King Henry 
VIII. of England was the first of the kings to 
defy the Pope and to disregard the fearful pen- 
alty of excommunication. He not only got him- 
self divorced from Catherine of Aragon, and 
married Anna Boleyn, but also detected the 
wickedness of that arrogant tyrant, the Lord 
Cardinal Wolsey, who had oppressed the people 
of England while he was prime minister and re- 
ligious adviser of the king. By a providential 
mistake, a package of documents sent to Wolsey 
was found by a priest, who forwarded them to 
Henry. Among the papers was one which con- 
tained an account of a world of wealth Wolsey 
had extorted by taxing the people— a taxation 
that was almost confiscation— with which he 
bribed his friends in Rome. His ambition was 
to get the popedom for himself. This arrogant 
and wicked high priest was guilty of the crime 
of suborning witnesses to convict men far bet- 
ter than he, and absolve them with the ax, as 
in the case of the Duke of Buckingham. He 
also consoled himself for his celibacy by taking 
a prostitute for a companion. Sueh was the 



234 THE CHUBCH. 



head of the Romish Church of England when 
the king entered the wedge that divided the 
church and state. It was the deathblow to the 
influence of the Pope in England, an act from 
which grew the religious wars that drenched 
Europe with blood. The Church was divided 
between the Romish creed and that established 
by Henry VIII., after which the power of the 
Pope was destroyed. He, was no more consid- 
ered the vicar of Christ in England. The bishops 
then became the head of the Church, and next 
to the king in power, and, their support being 
provided for by the government, the clergy were 
granted what is called "livings." They thus 
became a burden on the people. When the Ro- 
man Catholics were in power they persecuted 
the Protestants; when the Protestants gained 
power they persecuted the Catholics, which 
caused what is known in history as the religious 
wars, which lasted for centuries. The church 
*»nd state were together so powerful that it was 
not safe to write books against their particular 
creed. It was considered a crime almost equal 
to treason, and no writing of the kind was at- 
tempted in a direct way. Shakespeare wrote 
plays which had in them a slight tinge of ridi- 
cule, very similar to the ridicule of the knights 
errant by the author of Don Quixote. 



THE CHUECH. 235 



The Protestants finally began to subdivide into 
religious sects. According to their claims, they 
have God within four walls. Each religious 
sect, from the Roman Catholic to the numerous 
Protestant denominations, claims that its par- 
ticular method of salvation and redemption is 
the only correct one, and no other will be ac- 
ceptable to God. Therefore, the devil will have 
to accept nearly all the people of the world. As 
there are only two places appointed by the 
Church to receive us— heaven and hell— what 
are we to hope for in life or immortality if we 
conform to some church system of salvation? 
We are deprived during life of all natural 
pleasure, such as attending theatricals, dancing, 
playing cards, or any of the worldly pastimes, 
for these things are. all wicked in the sight of 
God. Then we are taught the doctrine of the 
resurrection of the body, and that we will recog- 
nize each other in the future life. Just imagine 
the feelings of a mother, a father, a husband, 
or a wife, when, on reaching heaven, neither 
is able to find loved ones, knowing, from the 
teachings of the Church, that they must neces- 
sarily be in everlasting torment. This alone 
convinces me the Church theory is untrue. 

Are we to pass our youth in fear of a God 
that waxeth hot (a Bible expression) when we 
forget Him for other enjoyments ? If so, all the 



236 THE CHUECH. 



modern inventions for our enjoyment must be 
looked on as inventions of the devil. I think, 
to serve God, we should be grateful for the 
beautiful and enjoyable world he has given to 
us ready-made, and learn to be happy our- 
selves, and endeavor to make others happy. We 
ought to not fear God, but live in love for and 
awe of Him, and fear nothing but to do wrong, 
and this the spirit of God within us will find out. 
The Catholic priests use every means to ex- 
cite the sympathy of the people for the cruel 
murder of Christ. On one occasion I was in 
New Orleans with my darling wife. If she had 
a fault, I never found it out. She was of a 
remarkably sensitive nature. She, with some 
friends, visited the different decorated churches. 
In one of them a wax life-size figure of Christ 
was shown laid in a sepulchre, and the people 
passed by in single file to view it. She gave me 
a very pathetic description of it. From what 
she said, the figure was a magnificent work of 
art. She was elaborate in describing it, and in 
a very feeling way spoke of the places that were 
pierced by the nails in the hands and feet, and 
where the side was pierced by the spear. I could 
see that her sympathetic nature was very much 
impressed. She was a very devout member of 
the Episcopal Church, and for some time would 
speak of the scene and how it affected her. 



THE CHUECH. 237 



Nothing is neglected by the priests to keep 
up the delusion of what they call faith. That 
emblem of Eoman cruelty— the cross— is made 
into ornaments from all kinds of material, and 
decorated with pearls, diamonds, emeralds, 
rubies, and other precious stones. Among the 
more superstitious a cross is a talisman, having 
the power to keep off evil spirits and protect 
them from danger. They are taught to make 
the sign of it on their persons when they hear 
the name of Christ, and when they hear the bell 
for vespers and other occasions. Thus, sacred 
ideas are ground into Roman Catholics from 
their childhood. The mind becomes enveloped, 
as it were, with the faith, so that reason cannot 
contend with it; therefore, the power of the 
priest over devout Catholics is unbounded. They 
are capable of being led to any extreme when 
told by the priest it is their duty to the Church. 

Skepticism produces independent public 
schools, freedom of speech, philosophy, and sci- 
ence, but the Christian Church produces super- 
stition, slavery of the mind, and the Inquisition. 
All useful knowledge is derived from the study 
of science. It is the study of those things of 
which learning consists. No man should allow 
his serious belief in the true God of the creation 
to be connected with the ludicrous stories of 
the Bible and Testament, for there is but little 



238 THE CHUECH. 



doubt that they were built on heathen mythology. 
The heathen, as they are called, had hundreds 
of gods. The Church has substituted thousands 
of saints, with the addition of a Holy Ghost. 

During the time France was virtually con- 
trolled by a religious statesman and tyrant, 
Richelieu, the French people were in a very 
deplorable situation. They needed the aid of a 
bold skeptic to show them that Gold had granted 
rights to every man, and that the power to gov- 
ern was with the people. Providence, at last, 
provided them with a great advocate of the 
rights of man, whose literary attainments ren- 
dered him equal to the occasion, and his bold, 
philanthropic heart did the rest. He started the 
storm of thought, but the wind was the breath 
of the French people, who were soon to start a 
revolution that would astonish the civilized 
world. That man was the immortal Voltaire, 
whose love foir his fellow-man caused him to 
write against the tyranny of the Church. The 
world would have had a book from him that 
would have precipitated the revolution much 
sooner had not his too-prudent father got a 
glance at the manuscript before it was pub- 
lished. As nearly as I can recollect it, I will 
give a short sketch of his biography by Oliver 
Goldsmith, one of his helpers and admirers : 



THE CHUECH. 239 



Voltaire was a very bright young man, the 
son of a lawyer. He became enamoured of a 
designing woman, who was injuring him morally 
as well as pecuniarily. His father was in- 
formed of it, and determined to put a stop to it. 
He, therefore, found out the house of the 
woman, and lay in wait for young Voltaire. 
When he came to visit the woman, he pursued 
him up the steps with his cane in his hand. 
Young Voltaire turned on his father, drew his 
sword and defied him, telling him that they 
were two different men, each having the same 
rights. His father deliberately turned and left 
him, but obtained a warrant for his arrest for 
drawing his sword on his father, and had him 
incarcerated in prison. While in prison he 
wrote verses on the panes of glass. Their merit 
showed the genius of the young man. Those 
verses were preserved for years afterwards. In 
time his father relented, and they became recon- 
ciled to each 'other. Young Voltaire, being 
freed from the influence of the woman, ac- 
knowledged his folly, and devoted himself to 
literary pursuits. His father noticed that he 
kept to his room very closely, and went into it 
during his absence, and found the manuscript 
of one of the boldest iconoclastic works that 
could be conceived. When his son returned he 
said to him, "I see you are writing a book to 



240 THE CHURCH. 



reform religion," and told him he was at least 
a century before his time, and that the author 
of such a book would not be tolerated at that 
period. He then led his son into his own room 
and pointed to a large, well-executed image of 
the Crucifixion, and said to him: "There is the 
greatest religious reformer the world ever 
knew. Behold his fate ! " He finally persuaded 
him to stop and not publish the book, as he 
would certainly be assassinated and the book be 
suppressed. His other writings, with the aid 
of those of other freethinkers, brought on the 
revolution that erected the guillotine, which 
v^as used not only to decapitate Louis XVI., but 
many of the nobility of France. To defend the 
king came to be a crime punishable with death. 
Those men became tyrants in their turn, equal 
to the former rulers of the downtrodden people. 
The revolution of 1793 was a necessity; but, 
like all revolutions, it was horrible and cruel in 
the extreme. Women and children were made 
bo suffer and die of starvation. Even they were 
put to the sword by the cruel order of the Com- 
mittee of Safety. "Slay all; take no prison- 
ers," was the order. Not even the helpless and 
wounded were spared. The nursing mother, 
with the infant at her breast, was slain. But 
horrible as revolution is, it has its blessings for 
those who gain their liberty from tyrant kings 



THE CHURCH. 241 



and priests. Successful revolution generally 
has the effect of exterminating royalty and do- 
ing away with aristocracy. It civilizes the sol- 
dier, relieves the priest of superstition and 
hypocrisy, and renders the judge more humane. 
It does not always stop here, for the French 
revolution gave peace to France, though it was 
a source of terror to the kings and princes of the 
rest of Europe. The people were rejoiced at 
their freedom. They were no longer the dupes 
of priests, but looked on them with contempt. 
In their frenzied joy they desecrated the 
churches, reveled and danced in them, lighted 
by the candles on the altar where they had knelt 
in prayer to the Virgin and the saints. They di- 
vorced the church and state from their adulter- 
ous connection. They made jests of Lewis XVI. 
and the nobles who were guillotined. They said 
they disliked to shed the blood of any man, but 
kings, noblemen, and priests were not men, only 
tyrants, who had caused the blood of the citizens 
to flow, and, now, let theirs flow. 

Liberty was new to them, and they were wild 
in their rejoicing. They began to see, looming up 
in the future, reason, truth, mercy, education, 
and the recognition of the laws of society. They 
saw schools for their children, hospitals for the 
indigent and sick, and they believed that law, 
conscience, and morality would be blended by 



242 THE CHUECH. 



the republic to protect society, and they would 
live in peace and prosperity. They hoped for 
every good to grow out of what had been 
achieved by the revolution. The Jesuits were 
expelled from France, and their property con- 
fiscated to the government. The Church had 
no voice in the politics of the nation, and the in- 
fluence of the priests extended no further than 
the Church, and they were looked upon with sus- 
picion because they still were loyal to the Pope, 
and, consequently, even distrusted by the gov- 
ernment. After the ordeal of a fearful revolu- 
tion, France was entitled to peace. She had ac- 
complished much. After the revolution France 
had little more trouble from the priests. As 
soon as the fanatics and extremists, like Marat, 
Danton, and Robespierre, were removed, every- 
thing turned to! industry. Literature from this 
time on made rapid stides. Such men as Victor 
Hugo and Eugene Sue began to enlighten the 
people of the civilized world. France has lately 
abolished all Catholic private schools. Philos- 
ophy will now take the place of superstition in 
the institutions, and the latter will soon be a 
thing of the past in France. 

The Church in Italy continued to oppress the 
people till that great patriot, Garibaldi, came 
to their relief, and divorced the adulterous union 
of church and state, and set aside the influence 



THE CHURCH. 243 



of the Pope with the king, and gave to Italy a 
more tolerable government. The Pope and priest 
still keep up their silly practices, which are in- 
significant, and the government tolerates them. 
While I was in Rome, in January, 1905, on Saint 
Agnes' day (I forget the exact date, but think 
it was the 17th) , I went in company with a very 
intelligent American lady (with whom I made 
pleasant acquaintance) in a carriage to the 
cathedral of St. Peter. While viewing the pro- 
cession of church dignitaries as they passed 
along on their way to that immense building, 
dressed in their robes of office, from cardinals, 
bishops, and priests down to monks, I being 
quiet for some time, she remarked: "You are 
unusually quiet. What are you thinking 
about?" I told her I was afraid my thoughts 
might shock her, she being a member of the 
Episcopal Church. She replied: "No, I imagine 
not. Tell me." I replied that I was thinking 
that, if it were possible for Christ to be among 
those men, he would feel very insignificant. 
Then, in turn, she became quiet, and I asked 
her of what she was thinking. She answered: 
"I never heard it put in that light before, but 
really it is too true." 

On St. Agnes' Day it is customary for the 
Pope to bless two lambs, to be taken to the Vati- 
can and placed in charge of a person who is spe- 



244 THE CHURCH. 



cially blessed to take care of them until they 
grow blessed wool enough to make a garment of 
some kind to be worn by the Pope 'en certain 
occasions. I do not know, but I suppose this 
is one of their sources of revenue, as the Church 
has lost the power to levy taxes on the people, 
and I expect many centimes are dropped in the 
Church depository in remembrance of this par- 
ticular saint. All the buildings around St. 
Peter's, on one side, have statues of saints on 
their walls. That emblem of Roman cruelty— 
the cross— and the different saints are very con- 
spicuous. "We did not gw inside to see the per- 
formance. There was such a crowd that we 
could have seen but little if we had. My com- 
panion told me of another day of some saint on 
which nuns take a wax doll that is blessed by 
the Pope, and carry it around to the different 
houses in which there are sick children, and re- 
peat prayers to the saint for the recovery of 
those who are sick, and for this they are paid 
by those who reside at the house. If the patient 
recovers, the prayers are believed to have been 
acceptable to the saint. If, however, the child 
should die, they think they did not pay enough. 
I saw quite a number of Protestant churches 
in Rome quite near the papal palace. I could 
distinguish the churches of the different sects, 
with the exception of the Episcopal, by the ab- 



THE CHUKCH. 245 



sence of the cross, which is . universal on the 
Romish and English churches. 

Just as soon as there are more philosophy 
and science taught in the schools in Italy in- 
stead of the idolatrous and absurd belief in 
saints and ghosts that is now taught in the 
Catholic schools, just so soon will the priests fail 
to hide the one true God behind the shadows of 
the saints and ghosts, and heads of the Church. 

The Church condemns people for a great 
number of things they call sin. When I think 
of sin it is associated with crime. To commit 
a sin, a person necessarily commits a crime, and 
anyone must have a motive for which to com- 
mit a crime. If anyone should be guilty of a 
crime without a motive, he would be considered 
a lunatic. There are a number of motives for 
committing crimes — viz., for revenge, for 
money, for jealousy, for envy, for malice, or for 
spite. Of all of these, men have been known 
to be guilty, but not without a motive. Now, 
how could anyone find a motive for committing 
crime against his Creator? Therefore, to sin 
against God is to injure yourself or some other 
of his creatures willfully. Again, to serve God 
is to be kind to his living creatures. Is it not a 
grievous sin to deceive others and thereby ren- 
der their lives miserable? The priests, then, 
are very grefit sinners, as I will show. Is ii not 



THE CHUKCH. 



a crime to influence a beautiful, innocent girl 
to do what is called "taking tht veil," re- 
nouncing all the pleasures of life, having her 
beautiful hair cut off, hiding her face from the 
sight of the world, allowing herself to be shut 
ug in a cell in a convent, to be condemned to 
be continually kneeling before the image of the 
Virgin, some saint, or crucifix, denying herself 
all the blessings Gnod has given her— in reality, 
transforming her nature— forcing her to con- 
fessional, putting on her the most cruel pen- 
ances for having a single thought of love, caus- 
ing her to endure an unnatural, living death, in- 
stead of the joyous, happy existence God granted 
to her? For every thought of her lover, which 
she cannot help, for his image is indelibly 
stamped on her fond memory, she thinks it her 
bounden duty to confess while kneeling before 
some priest, who tells her to torture herself in 
order to banish this worldly passion from her 
mind. As a general thing, disappointment in 
love, or the loss of some very dear relative or 
friend, causes women to be despondent. They 
go to their confessor for comfort. Their situa- 
tion is taken advantage of, and they are per- 
suaded to take this gloomy course, not only to 
save their own souls, but to atone for their 
friends. Thousands upon thousands of sweet 
girls are yearly sacrificing their happiness, and 



THE CHUKCH. 247 



being deluded by the influence of priests, when, 
if they were members of any other denomina- 
tion, they would get reconciled to their loss after 
time, that great destroyer lof grief, came to their 
relief, and would again take their proper place 
in society, become attached to some other suitor, 
make a happy wife and mother, and fill the sta- 
tion in life for which nature intended them. 
It is natural that the longer we allow ourselves 
to brood over trouble' the worse it is for our men- 
tal system. Not a few become inmates of some 
asylum for the insane, when, if they had been 
kept out of the prison-like cell of a convent, 
with the strict religious discipline to which they 
are subjected, and been left to the care of loving 
friends, this deplorable condition would not 
have occurred. It is hard to decide which is 
best— to be insane and be in a semi-conscious 
kind of oblivion all through life, or to be the 
slave of a delusion, and live the life of a nun, 
subjected to the beck and call of some designing, 
wicked priest. 

I have read accounts of cases where girls had 
been locked up as insane for years to defraud 
them of their inheritance, when the courts would 
issue a writ of habeas corpus and find them per- 
fectly sane. This cruelty was not done for the 
love of God, but for the love of money. Volumes 
much larger than the Bible could be written 



248 THE CHUECH. 



on the wickedness practiced from the Pope to 
the priest. The history of France during the 
life of Cardinal Richelieu would fill quite a 
volume of Church crimes. There were men who 
would have lifted the hoodwink placed over the 
eyes of reason at that time, had not the Church 
smoothed the pillow and anointed with divine 
oil the crowned heads of kings, and the people 
stood in awe of royalty. It was for this that 
royalty protected the Church, as their interests 
were the same, and their stock in trade was to 
keep the people in ignorance as to their rights 
and power. For anyone to have written a book 
at this time to enlighten them would have been 
certain death to the author, and the book would 
have been destroyed. It would have been de- 
creed by church and state that anybody found 
in possession of a copy would be punished with 
death. 

Thanks to civilization, that time has passed, 
and a man is free to express his opinion on any 
subject, even if it does touch the vital spot of 
church or royalty. Yet we have not reached 
that high state of civilization in which govern- 
ments are not inconsistent. We notice that it 
is prohibited, under heavy penalty, to send ob- 
scene literature through the mails, yet that very 
obscene book, the Bible, passes through without 
question. It is even forced into some schools 



THE CHTJBCH. 249 



as a pre-eminent work of morals. The light of 
philosophy will soon pass through it like the 
X-rays, and it will be seen in its true light. The 
Church idea of its being the word of God will 
change to the philosophical idea that it is the 
word of a demon. Then the oppression of the 
Church will cease, and the cloud of supersti- 
tion will be removed, and the omnipotent, all- 
powerful, and just and merciful God will not 
be hidden by the name of a man who died two 
thousand years ago, a Holy Ghost and a number 
of saints, headed by the Virgin Mary. That 
absurdity and curse to the human race for cen- 
turies, called "salvation and redemption, ' ' will 
be ignored; and the pardon of sins, selling in- 
dulgences, and absolution, those great sources 
of revenue enforced by the Church, will be 
things of the past. Then our fears of a revenge- 
ful and tyrannical God will cease, and our only 
fear will be of doing wrong. 

Sisters of charity and those who have "taken 
the veil" are loved and respected for their self- 
sacrifice and untiring zeal, but we, at the same 
time, pity them, because they have forgotten 
the meaning of the word " pleasure.' ' They are 
like a sponge— they absorb everything that the 
priests tell them— and hug their misery in soli- 
tude till, at last, death comes to release them, 
and they are then consoled by the so-called 



250 THE CHURCH. 



''Rites of the Church"— a little holy water, the 
mysterious signs and words of a priest, the eat- 
ing of a wafer, the sipping of a little wine, 
which they have been told is the real body and 
blood of Christ. They have some death-bed for- 
malities, all nonsensical and ridiculous, sol that 
those who die in the faith of the Church may 
find consolation, or think they have; but, had 
they been allowed to live the life that nature 
fitted them for, they would have found consola- 
tion in being surrounded by loved and loving 
ones, who would have ministered to their wants, 
made smoother and soft their pillows, relieved 
their suffering, and given consolation that is 
worth more than all others, which is to believe 
that the loving God who created them can, and 
will, take care of their souls without the inter- 
vention of a priest. 

Spain at this time is the only country where 
the Pope has much, if any, influence with the 
government. The influence of the Church has 
about reduced Spain to a mere guitar-picking 
nation. Royalty, there, is a very expensive lux- 
ury, which costs the people much money for but 
little, if any, benefit. Education will in time, 
teach the Spanish people that the divine right, 
which, for centuries, has been claimed, that 
royalty inherits the right to govern gen- 
erations yet unborn, is an untrue and monstrous 



THE CHUECH. 251 



thing, and they will claim the real divine right 
to choose their own rulers, who will be com- 
petent statesmen, capable of ruling an intelli- 
gent people without the meddlesome aid of the 
Pope or Church. 

All the need Spain has for her present king 
is to have him show himself on state occasions, 
and all the learning necessary for him is pro- 
ficiency in etiquette and dress, and to conduct 
himself in royal style and wear that bauble, the 
crown, on his head; to attend confession, be 
absolved frequently, and be liberal with the 
Church. In Spain convents and superstition 
predominate, when, very often, priests are 
demons mistaken for angels. They frequently 
are the reverse of their pretensions. They set 
up a religion of pomp and revenue, professing 
to imitate the religion of Christ, which was 
humility and poverty. Their means of delusion 
are purgatory, salvation, releasing souls by 
prayers, pardoning of sins, and indulgences, all 
of which are sold for money. Their theory of 
redemption is a great fraud. They feel secure, 
though, for the people entertain that ancient 
idea that royalty and the priests are sacred and 
inviolable, their priestly robes protecting them 
from injury. The people are kept asleep by 
the Church and faith. They do not remember 
that, during the time of the Inquisition, the 



252 - THE CHUECH. 



priests held the sword in one hand and sprinkled 
holy water with the other on the dying victims 
on the rack. What the priests sell costs them 
nothing. Holy water and the necessary prayers 
are ever ready and inexhaustible. Their value 
as to salvation and redemption is altogether 
imaginary, for one man stands in the same re- 
lation to his Creator as another; therefore, holy 
water, prayers to saints, the Virgin Mary, and 
absolution, pronounced by one or a million, 
amount to nothing. Priests are a failure as to 
salvation, but they are good collectors of 
revenue. Nations look upon liberty as the 
heathen did on an idol, but you cannot find free- 
dom in a country governed by the Church. 

Virtue is a quality that everyone loves, but 
where will w& find the truly virtuous? Cer- 
tainly not among those who pretend that they 
are delegates to the court of heaven. Priests do 
nothing simply and solely for the loVe of God. 
They want a money remuneration. When they 
perform the funeral service, if the friends are 
wealthy, they say mass for a certain price; and, 
if they be paupers, they refuse a mass, and put 
them off with vespers. They even charge for 
tolling the bell, and for every official act they 
exact pay. 

Priests practice celibacy and condemn forni- 
cation, and yet keep their mistresses. Priests 



THE CHUECH. 253 



have natures like other men, and, to secure them 
from violating their obligation of chastity and 
virtue, they should be made eunuchs at their 
ordination. It would not only give general re- 
lief, but render them more trustworthy and 
safe at confessionals. 

I have dealt with the Roman Catholic Church 
and her agents, the priests, because the crimes 
of this denomination against humanity have 
been so great. No wither church is guilty of 
having had an Inquisition with its horrors, and 
no other sells the means of salvation and re- 
demption as stated above. 

I will now pay attention to the other religious 
sects: 

The Christian Church is divided into a num- 
ber of sects, or denominations, and they are all 
founded on the idea that God sent his son, Jesus 
Christ, to die on the cross to redeem the world. 
In this they all concur. They all also profess 
to believe that Christ arose from the grave 
bodily, and is now in heaven with God, and, 
through his intercession alone, salvation is to 
be obtained. They all profess to believe the 
whole Bible to be the word of God, but found 
their faith on the New Testament, which they 
claim to be the word of God written by men 
specially inspired by God for the purpose. They 
all believe, or rather profess to believe, the 



254 THE CHUKCH. 



books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
John were really written by those men. They 
also profess to believe the strange story of the 
conception and birth of Christ. It would seem 
to an impartial judge that there is nothing to 
prevent their having a single church, but that 
is far from the truth. The various denomina- 
tions differ slightly in creed, but greatly as to 
the different ideas of salvation. To a disinter- 
ested person these differences seem insignificant. 
One sect contends that sinners necessarily have 
to be put under water by a man claiming to be 
called by God, and ordained by man for the 
purpose, and this immersing must be done in 
the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
Without this, no one, infants not excepted, can 
possibly enter into heaven. Others conform to 
all but the immersion, only sprinkling a little 
water on the head, repeating, "In the name of 
the Father," and so on, as above. Thus, the 
manner of baptism differs but little, but that- 
little is made the cause of keeping these sects 
apart, and frequently enmity exists between 
them. 

Each denomination differs very widely from 
the others in its belief as to what salvation de- 
pends on, although it believes, as the others do, 
in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 
Another believes in the doctrine of predestina- 



THE CHUECH. 255 



tion— that a child is predestined for a certain 
purpose when born, and that it is bound to 
achieve that purpose. To illustrate: A child is 
born and predestined to be a murderer. For 
him to succeed he must have someone to mur- 
der, so> someone must be predestined to be mur- 
dered. This is rather hard on the latter. I 
suppose the preachers of this church explain 
this in some allegorical way which satisfies their 
followers, and that is all that is necessary. 

I must say that persons believing in what, to 
me, seem such absurd systems, live very good, 
moral lives. These churches called Protestant 
have no " revenue laws" like the Romish 
Church. They neither sell indulgences, par- 
dons, absolution! nor prayers for redemption. 
They exact dues and take up gratuitous collec- 
tions during church service. They expect fees 
for a marriage ceremony, but this differs from 
the Romish priest claiming for his Church the 
prerogative to solemnize marriage, and who con- 
tends that all who are married otherwise than 
by their priest live in adultery, and their chil- 
dren are bastards, and cannot enter the king- 
dom of heaven under any circumstances. If 
this were true, there would be no chance foi 
me and all the rest of us that had parents who 
were married by the preachers of other churches, 
or by a magistrate or justice of the peace; but 



256 THE CHURCH. 



we are not hurt, because we do not believe 
them. 

The Protestants take in considerable cash 
from church fairs, festivals, and banquets, 
gotten up generally by the ladies, and managed 
almost entirely by them. Take away the aid oif 
the ladies and young girls who sell tickets for 
their church entertainments, and little would be 
made; in fact, the influence of the church- 
women is what sustains it. Some denominations 
also have stewards who collect, from any who 
will give, enough to make up the preacher's 
salary. 

A preacher, no matter how limited his educa- 
tion may re, is versed in such passages in the 
Bible as, ' ' Muzzle not the ox which treadeth out 
the corn, " ' ' The laborer is worthy of his hire, ' ' 
" It is more blessed to give than to receive, ' ' etc. 
They do not need the blessing, but they do need 
the money, so they receive, and that is all right. 
They also perform marriage ceremonies for the 
members of their church, or anyone who calls 
on them, for which they sometimes receive a 
handsome fee. The groom is generally in love 
with his bride, and everybody else, and feels 
liberal with the officiating preacher. 

These Protestant churches have theological 
schools and universities, where they try to make 
their religion and science jingle in harmony, 



THE CHURCH. 257 



but they are so incompatible that they have a 
hard time of it. Science is obstinate, and will 
not believe till investigation by (experiment and 
the most rigid test proves a theory to be an "un- 
doubted fact, when it is no longer theory, but 
one more truth from the book of nature which 
scientists study. Allegorical explanations of 
things which seem to take nature out of her 
course do not satisfy the student and philosopher. 
The hidden meaning of the theologian and the 
unmistakable chemical often disagree and cause 
doubt in the mind, and when we doubt we do 
not believe. 

Let us suppose one of the professors of one of 
these church schools should teach the science of 
philosophy and astronomy with mathematics, for 
the latter science cannot exist without the other, 
as it is impossible to learn one without the other. 
Now, suppose this professor is an ordained min- 
ister of the gospel. He would necessarily be in 
a dilemma when he was lecturing to! a class on 
philosophy, as his knowledge of astronomy 
would hold him to the truth that the revolution 
of the earth on its axis is the cause of the 
change from day to night. This fact being 
demonstrated to the class, and satisfactorily ac- 
cepted, suppose he would get up before his con- 
gregation and preach a sermon on the subject 
of Joshua commanding the sun and moon to 



258 THE CHURCH. 



stand still, so that the day might be longer, in 
order to give him more time in which to pursue 
and slay the Philistines. He would then have 
to say to his class that General Joshua should 
have commanded the world to stop turning, but 
he cannot with propriety, as a believer in the 
Bible, say this to his congregation, as this would 
be denying the word of God, which he could not 
afford to do, nor would the congregation tolerate 
such blasphemy. The only way I can see for 
him would be to have two chambers in his brain 
-—one for the church people, with theology 
taking the place of reason, and with this he could 
claim Joshua was right, for the Bible says so, 
and its writer was one inspired by God, and, of 
course, God made the sun, moon, and earth, and 
he certainly knows more about them than any- 
one else. Therefore, it is proven that Joshua 
was right. This, of course, would be accepted 
by the congregation as true, and they would go 
away satisfied that he was a great preacher, and 
that they had listened to an excellent sermon. 
But, when lecturing to the class, he could dis- 
pense with the theology chamber, and with rea- 
son prove to it that, if Joshua had been right, 
the earth would have melted, and cremated Gen- 
eral Joshua and his whole army. Therefore, 
when a professor of religion is also a professor 
of science at the same time, he must forget his 



THE CHUECH. 259 



theology when lecturing in the university to his 
class on science and truth; and, when he is 
preaching to his congregation on the word of 
God, he must forget science, for they are not at 
all reconcilable, but incompatible, and will not 
mix. It takes philosophical reasoning to teach 
science intelligently, but the less reasoning 
power a preacher has the better he can explain 
the truth of the Bible. Too much reason will 
prove it false, and, as it is the word of God, 
that wo aid not do at all. 

If a professor lectured to the class in support 
of the truth of the Bible, he would have to as- 
sume the world to be flat, as Joshua thought it 
was; and, if he tried to prove this, the students 
would hiss and storm him out. If he proved to 
his church congregation that the world was 
round, then the bishop would say he was a 
heretic, and silence him as a preacher, and he 
would then lose his position in the college. 
Therefore, his best plan would be to satisfy both 
the students and the church by declaring he be- 
lieved that the reporter must have misquoted 
Joshua, and the science of astronomy is correct. 

Some years since, Dr. Woodruff, a professor 
in an institution' in Georgia, forgot his theology 
in delivering a lecture to a class, and said the 
Darwinian theory could not be disproved, and 
that it was the most plausible of all theories as 



260 THE CHURCH. 



to the origin of man. For advancing this idea 
he was denounced by the board of directors, and 
they would have expelled him, but the students 
protested en masse, and said that, if their pro- 
fessor was discharged on account of his assert- 
ing his honest opinion, they would all leave the 
institution. There were many papers on the 
subject written and published in the newspapers 
at the time. I do not remember how it resulted, 
but I think the doctor was allowed to retain his 
position. 

Intelligent Protestant preachers of the present 
time are trying to explain the Bible so as to make 
it agree with a great number of facts established 
by scientists, which refute its truth— facts 
which are made so plain that their arguments, 
when supported by natural law, are unanswer- 
able. These preachers perceive that the science 
of geology disproves the Bible theory as to the 
age of the world. The churches say it is six 
thousand years since God created the earth, and 
finished the work in six days, but it can be 
proved beyond a doubt, in a number of ways, 
that the world is several hundred thousand years 
old, and God has not finished it yet. It is still 
being made by the laws of nature. They will 
find it difficult to make the physiologist under- 
stand their idea of conception and impregna- 
tion by a spirit. The idea of a man living three 



THE CHURCH. 261 



days in the stomach of a fish without air will not 
trouble the mind of a physiologist, for he knows 
it only takes a few minutes to fatally carbonize 
the blood when all oxygen is cut off. In fact, 
all the miracles related in the Bible violate nat- 
ural laws, which will very naturally create 
serious doubts in all who are not persuaded to 
set aside their reason when it comes to proving 
the word of God as written by His inspired 
agents either before or after their death. 

I have proved beyond a doubt that the books 
of Moses were written at least eight hundred 
years after his death, and he wrote an account 
of his own death, which was written in the past 
tense. I have shown that a chapter in the Book 
of Genesis is also found in the Book of Chron- 
icles, and they both speak of the kings of the 
Jews. Now, a priest, even, cannot deny that 
Saul was the first king that reigned over the 
Jews, and that Samuel anointed him, and, ac- 
cording to the chronological account given in 
the Bible Samuel was born at least eight hun- 
dred years after Moses died. Those who pro- 
fess to believe the Bible to be true, when a hard 
case is being discussed, like the troubles of 
Jonah with the fish, or that most wonderful 
mechanical feat of making a woman out of a 
piece of bone, all use the worn-out argument, 
" There is nothing impossible with God." As- 



262 THE CHURCH. 



suming it to be possible that God could have 
done it, is it not more reasonable to believe that 
woman was necessarily created (as all His won- 
derful works were created) by God's natural 
laws of progression and evolution, than to think 
that He would change the course of nature in 
this particular case ? I do not believe He did, but 
I do believe someone slandered Him, as others 
have continued to do in many instances through- 
out the Bible. 

I think, and predict, that before very long the 
Church will call another council to vote on 
which books shall be considered the word of 
God, and it will throw out the impossibilities 
that are always getting it into troublesome 
dilemmas by its not being able to explain them, 
such as miracles, Holy Ghost, talking snakes, 
dead men rising from the grave bodily, the 
devil, salvation through the blood of Christ, or 
prayers bought of priests, the wicked murders 
and obscene stories related in the Bible. This 
council will vote all these be stricken out, re- 
taining only the morality taught by Christ both 
by precept and example; in other words, pave 
the way to God with virtue, morality, and broth- 
erly love. This is all that Christ taught, and 
all that is necessary. 

I will contrast the road to God through the 
Church with that through the one planned by 



THE CHUECH. 263 



Christ. Christ's road has no obstructions. 
Everyone has free access to God, with no priests, 
no saints, no Holy Ghost, to beg or intercede for 
us. The way m open to! all alike. The world 
is the house of God, and all live with Him in 
their hearts, and are grateful for His blessing. 
When we are morally satisfied with our lives as 
to virtue and love, we are in the road of the 
Deist, without obstruction to our God. Christ 
preached his sermon known as ' ' Thei Sermon on 
the Mount," and the world was his church, 
builded by God without walls, canopied with a 
beautiful blue, ethereal dome, decorated with 
stars, eternal in the heavens. 

The churches shut God up within four walls 
which they call "The House of God." They 
erect what they call an altar, in order for any- 
one to communicate with God. The members 
of these churches must conform to certain rules 
ordained in their behalf. They have to pro- 
fess a belief in the creed of the church to which 
they respectively belong. They are to profess 
a belief that the Bible is the word oif God, not 
in part, but the whole, with the Testaments 
added. They are not to question any theory 
that is written in the Bible, for that would be 
sacrilege. The Romish Church requires con- 
fession to a priest, and should a person violate 
the rules of the Church the priests pass sen- 



264 THE CHUECH. 



tencsg on him. He either pays for pardon or 
indulgence, or is punished by doing what is 
termed "penance," in order to appease the 
wrath of God. 

In large, fine houses built for God in cities 
and villages the seats are sold. The most com- 
fortable and desirable bring the highest price, 
while some seats are set aside for the poor. It 
is impossible for a person with a mind not en- 
slaved by the superstition of the Church to com- 
mune with the God of the Church. He is barred 
by his unbelief. The Church denies sal- 
vation to what they term "unbelievers" and 
"heretics." Their road to God has many ob- 
structions to the philosopher or scientist who be- 
lieves and understands natural laws. Firstly, 
he must confess that he believes in the immacu- 
late conception, the death of Christ, and his 
miraculous resurrection as stated by the Apostles. 
Secondly, he must believe the minor miracles, 
such as the rib story, the snake, the fish, and all 
such silly stories to a reasonable mind. He must 
also believe in the saints, the Virgin Mary, and, 
by all means, in the only method of salvation 
being through the prayers of the Church and the 
redemption by the blood of Christ. 

Renan asked some questions, and was told 
he was sacrilegious. Renan had an inquiring 
mind. He had been educated for the priest- 



THE CHTTKCH. 265 



hood, but I do not know whether he was ordained 
or not. I read his "Life of Christ," and felt 
benefited by it. He said if it was sacrilege for 
him to seek for truth, then he was sacrilegious. 
His ideas of the character of Christ are the best 
I have ever read. 

I read Boulanger, but it was when I was a 
child. It gave relief to my mind as to hell and 
everlasting torment, with which the Church 
threatens us. My copy of this work was taken 
away, and I was told not to read the wicked 
book. I am glad I read what I did of it, for it 
taught me to think for myself, and to see that 
our salvation did not depend on what we be- 
lieved or thought. Thoughts are involuntary, 
and belief is founded on reason. 

I recollect, in reading the Book of Daniel, two 
remarkable stories that are difficult to believe 
to be true, even if they are in the Bible. One 
is where Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego 
were cast in a very hot furnace, so hot that the 
ones who threw them in perished from the heat, 
yet they were uninjured. Surely, they should 
have been turned to asbestos, too, for this spe- 
cial occasion. Then Daniel was cast into a den 
of lions, and remained with them all night. The 
lions were not hungry, or their jaws and legs 
were paralyzed. Daniel was remarkable for tell- 
ing wonderful stories of what he saw in his 



266 THE CHURCH. 



dreams, and I rather think he dreamed this 
also. 

The more intelligent of the Protestant preach- 
ers do not have so much hell-fire, blood and other 
horrors in their sermons as they did formerly. 
Those with limited education, of whom there 
are not a few, still make hell-fire and brimstone 
the only punishment far all who are not saved 
by having their sins washed away by the blood 
of Christ and prayer. 

I have listened to the prayers and harangues 
of preachers of a sect known as ' ' Sanctification- 
ists." Their exhortations consisted of telling 
what God desired us to do, and what the will 
of God was on various subjects. Their prayers 
we're dictatorially calling on God to act, and, 
as they thought, He should, then and there, send 
down His saving grace to show His power and 
glory. 

It is not what the preachers say that in- 
fluences their hearers. It is the peculiarly 
mournful intonation of the voice, and working 
themselves into a state of affected excitement, 
with loud exclamations of "Fire!" "Blood!" 
"Devil!" while gnashing their teeth, etc. At 
the same time a number of those already sanc- 
tified join in, and get up a kind of hysterical ex- 
citement that causes some to shout and some to 



THE CHUECH. 267 



faint. This is what they call * ' getting religion, ' ' 
or " being sanctified." 

Masses bought of the Romish Church to re- 
lease persons from purgatory may hei effectual. 
I have no way of proving the contrary, and if 
those who pay the priest are satisfied no one is 
hurt. I do not believe in the efficacy of prayer 
as to having any influence on God, causing him 
to directly change any natural law. The only 
effect is the consolation to the one praying and 
to the one prayed for if they believe that God 
can be influenced thereby. I will only relate 
one instance as an illustration, and give my 
reason why I do not believe : 

When President Garfield was shot, the sym- 
pathy of the whole civilized world was aroused. 
Prayers were ordered by kings, queens, and 
rulers of all nations, and voluntary prayers were 
offered by millions, but the bullet had invaded 
vital organs, and, by the law of nature, death 
was the inevitable result. 

This is only one instance. There are heart- 
broken mothers, wives, and children being left 
helpless daily in the world, whose prayers would 
melt the most cruel tyrant to tears, yet God 
does not heed. This does not affect my faith in 
the justice and mercy of God in the least, be- 
cause when by disease, or by accident, or by the 
murderer, life is destroyed, it is the course of 



268 THE CHUKCH. 



nature, and the consequences will necessarily 
follow. I have known instances when even the 
devout, after ineffectually praying for the life 
of those dear to them, would become rebellious, 
and say there was no God. Others are recon- 
ciled, and say, " God's will be done." Both, in 
my opinion, are in error. God does not wish 
the death of any of his creatures. It is just as 
natural to die as it is to be born, and we meet 
our death from various causes, and it will be 
so eternally. 

We should feel grateful to God for the bless- 
ings we daily receive, and try to avoid accidents 
or the cause of disease if we possibly can. Sci- 
ence has discovered the cause of many diseases, 
and the means of preventing their spread. God 
has given us reason with which to learn the laws 
of nature. Eeason cannot be given by man to 
himself. It is the natural gift of God to man. 
It is reason which elevates him above all other 
animals. It is reason which inspires him with 
the courage to walk uprightly, to meet friend or 
foe, and in the sight of his God, the Heavenly 
Father of all ; that gives him pride which sepa- 
rates him from the deluded, superstitious fol- 
lowers of the so-called Church of Christ. He 
feels that God has made him a free agent, and 
that he will not crawl or creep, with his face 
bowed to the earth, to no intriguing, hypocrit- 



THE CHUECH. 269 



ical, so-called father in God or church, or to 
humbly ask for holy water, pardon, blessing, in- 
dulgence, or absolution, to insure the salvation 
of his soul. He has a soul within his breast 
that lifts him far above feeling as if he were a 
worm. He stands before the priest like the bull- 
dog would before a fox. 

Education will naturally obliterate all super- 
stition, for it depends on ignorance for support, 
just as •the Church depends on its revenue laws. 
Soon, education and science will prove to the 
world that creation is the only true book which 
God has given to man. It is open to all alike. 
God never spoke face to face with any man. 
His only revelation is written in His book of 
nature, and can be read by observing and 
studying his wonderful works. Therefore, the 
best school for man is the study of the still un- 
explained mysteries of the creation. As soon as 
they are explained and proven, they cease to 
be mysteries, and become useful and beneficial 
facts. Think for a moment what science has 
accomplished by the study of natural laws in 
the last century. The progress has been won- 
derful. Understanding the nature of electricity 
has given to us, first, the telegraph, the trans- 
atlantic cable, and the telephone ; then, the elec- 
tric car and the automobile. "Who knows but 
what the child ofl genius is not already born 



270 THE CHUBCH. 



who will construct a machine with which he, or 
she, will navigate the air in perfect safety with 
the speed of a bird? Had it not been for edu- 
cation freeing genius from its bridle with a 
curb-bit, the reins of which were for centuries 
held by the Church, all these blessings would 
have been denied us. Had the church and state 
continued to hold absolute power, and we still 
were being educated in Catholic schools, as in 
the past centuries, all this progress would have 
been lost. 

What have the Spanish people ever invented? 
Nothing of any value toi the world. They have 
to apply to other nations who are freethinkers 
for all modern improvements and inventions. 
The achievements of unchecked genius and the 
ingenuity of a free people, like that of the 
United States of America, are a standing ex- 
ample to the world of what untrammeled free- 
dom of thought can do in a short time. 

It has been just one hundred and thirty years 
since the Declaration of Independence— an in- 
dependence which the people gained after a 
seven years' struggle with one of the most 
powerful nations. Other great nations have been 
in existence for many centuries before America 
was settled by the Anglo-Saxon race, yet the 
inventions of American ingenuity are now found 
in every civilized country on the globe. Why is 



THE CHUECH. 271 



this? It is not climate, for we have very nraeh 
the same climate and latitude as Europe. It 
is not race, for we are of the same race. It 
cannot be for want of material, for they all have 
the same minerals and chemicals that America 
has. It cannot be the atmosphere, for, chem- 
ically, the air of Europe has the same gases as 
American air has. We then will have to arrive 
at the correct idea by exclusion. We have ex- 
cluded climate, race, the want of material, every 
rational idea but one, and that must be the right 
one— that is, the free, untrammeled education of 
the mind. 

The Constitution of the United 'States was 
drafted by the great statesman and patriot, 
Thomas Jefferson, who fortunately was a skeptic 
and a Deist. He believed that everyone should 
have the right to worship God according to his 
own conscience ; that church and state should be 
entirely separate and distinct; therefore, all 
churches are protected by the government. This 
is the fundamental reason! that progress has ad- 
vanced so rapidly in America. Free education, 
freedom of speech, of thought, freedom of the 
press— we have all, untrammeled by church or 
government. Our schools, both public and pri- 
vate, are free from church influence. They are 
independent. The churches have been trying to 
insinuate their influence into the public schools, 



272 THE CHTTKCH. 



to have the Bible taught there, but they have 
failed. If either sect had been favored by law, 
all others would have been excluded. Then we 
would have had religious war in the United 
States, such as they formerly had in England. 
When religion influences national politics, 
progress ceases. Take Spain, for example. Her 
people have never invented anything useful for 
labor-saving. They have to get from abroad such 
inventions as they need. 

In the United States the churches try to en- 
force impossibilities. In their zeal to be of moral 
service they become cranky or fanatical. In 
this spirit they try to prohibit the making of 
whisky, and chewing or smoking of tobacco. 
They condemn theatres, entertainments, dan- 
cing, or recreation of any kind on Sunday. To 
denounce such is silly, because it is impossible. 
The preachers do not practice what they preach. 
Sunday is set aside by the government as far 
as is practicable, without inconveniencing the 
public too much, so as to give the people a day 
off from duty. Yet, when a big preacher or a 
bishop makes a visit, just go to the house where 
he is to dine, and what do you see ? Extra help 
has been called in to prepare a fine banquet, 
while the servants have been working steadily 
from dawn to eleven by the clock. For all this 
an excuse is found, by saying it was done in 



THE CHUECH. 273 



the service of God. Common sense, however, 
Rees it as being unnecessarily hard on the serv- 
ants. The bishop would not have suffered much 
by fasting on cold turkey, cranberry sauce, 
bakers' bread, salads, and cakes, with wines, 
nuts, and olives, and a good cigar as a consoler 
for abstinence. 

Why did God make fruits to ferment, and 
man the power to distill the juice of the luscious 
grape and other fruits that contain alcohol? 
Was it clone to tempt us ? Surely not ! To create 
tobacco was another mistake God made. His 
knowledge being infinite, He knew man would 
use and enjoy it, injurious though it might be. 
It was the same in the Garden of Eden, where 
he commanded Adam not to eat the apple, 
knowing that the devil would overpersuade Eve, 
and she and Adam would disobey and fall from 
grace, bringing unending trouble on their 
descendants. The absurdity and the incon- 
sistency are obvious. 

Science has been the means of preventing 
disease, and by the knowledge of the therapeutic 
effect of various plants and minerals it has 
checked the fatality of many diseases. The skill 
of the surgeon saves the lives of many, but this 
is counterbalanced by the ingenuity of man in 
inventing engines destructive to human life. 
The steamboats blow us up, the railroads smash 



274 THE CHUBCH. 



us up, the many fulminating explosives tear us 
to atoms, the use of electricity- shocks the life 
out of us. The latest guns are great engines of 
destruction used in war. The torpedo and sub- 
marine boats send thousands to the bottom of 
the sea without the consolation and benefit of 
the rites of the Church, or the very necessary 
privilege of being buried in holy ground. In 
consequence of all these agencies and the opera- 
tion of natural law, deaths about equal births. 

From my observations, whisky is the cause 
of few deaths directly. Many persons are 
known to have drunk to excess for years, and 
yet live as long as the temperate. It is the in- 
direct cause of death in various ways, for men, 
while drunk, expose themselves to cold, thus 
causing acute diseases. The effect od? alcohol 
on persons varies according to their tempera- 
ment. Those who are naturally malicious be- 
come vicious while intoxicated, wanting to fight 
and destroy everything within reach. The 
naturally generous and kind become hilarious, 
joyous and generous, helping everyone, and 
friendly with all. It is not wine or other intoxi- 
cants which are at fault. It is their intemperate 
use which does the mischief. No one is com- 
pelled to use liquor, being a free agent. There- 
fore, when a man injures himself or others 
while drinking, he sins against himself, his fel- 



THE CHUECH. 275 



low-man, and God. It is impossible for any- 
one to know anything of a future existence. 
What comes after this life, one person knows as 
much as another, and that is nothing, and the 
less we conjecture and worry our minds over 
what it is impossible to know the better it is. 
Rest satisfied with the fact that God created and 
will take care of us. 

To-day we are here— from hence for what? 
To-morrow we are gone— where, why, we know 
not. 



276 MEDICAL PROFESSION, ETC. 

ON THE MEDICAL PROFESSION, ITS 
BLESSINGS AND EVILS. 

There seems to be more delusion, superstition, 
and false ideas hampering the medical world 
than the religious. There is as much bigotry 
practiced in the cure of the body as of the soul. 
Until sectarianism is banished from the profes- 
sion this will continue. We have the voodoo, 
the homeopathic, the faith-cure, the hydropathic, 
and the Christian Science doctor. They all have 
their followers and patrons. It is strange how 
many persons, fairly well educated, and success- 
ful in their various vocations, who have so little 
judgment on the subject of medicine as to be 
continually imposed on by charlatans and em- 
pirics by reason of the lack of sufficient prac- 
tical sense to detect these impostors. 

If our schools would pay more attention to 
the improvement in medical hygienic conditions, 
and acquire a better knowledge of the physical 
condition of their pupils' bodies, there would be 
progress in this respect that would be of great 
benefit. It would not be long before most 
everyone would know as much about the treat- 
ment of the ordinary physical ailments of human 
beings as the average member of the medical 
profession of to-day, and could recognize a 
medical impostor. 



MEDICAL PBOFESSION, ETC. 277 

The practice of medicine is more of an art 
than a science. It depends too much on theory ; 
and, when we look back on the history of the 
profession, it is very deplorable to have to ac- 
knowledge that millions of lives have been de- 
stroyed, and untold human suffering caused, be- 
cause of the false theories advanced by the most 
learned scientists of the past. I will only call 
attention to one of the false theories as an illus- 
tration, which is of comparatively recent date— 
the theory as to the nature of pneumonia, and 
the consequent treatment. The disease was 
looked on (correctly, too) as strictly inflamma- 
tory, and if the inflammation was not subdued 
by prompt and effectual treatment it would 
prove fatal, and, as blood-letting was formerly 
considered the best therapeutical agent to sub- 
due inflammation, the doctors bled freely and 
frequently. At the same time they prohibited 
the use of stimulants and the most nourishing 
food, thinking this diet would increase the in- 
flammation. If a patient recovered it was in 
spite of the treatment. This was the accepted 
practice by the most learned men until, I think, 
1857, when Dr. Austin Flint created a revolu- 
tion in the treatment of the disease. 

Dr. Flint noticed that in homeopathic hos- 
pitals in New York they had much better suc- 
cess with pneumonia than in the other hospitals. 



278 MEDICAL PEOFESSION, ETC. 

He, being a man with a powerful investigating 
mind, soon discovered that the accepted theory 
that had been practiced for centuries through- 
out the civilized world was wrong. He demon- 
strated the true nature of the disease as being 
exhausting, and naturally had to continue eight 
or ten days before resolution could take place, 
and that, instead of depleting by blood-letting, 
the most sustaining treatment was indicated. In 
a very short time the old theory was abolished, 
and the scientific truth as to the disease was 
established, and what had been a very fatal 
disease is now hardly considered a grave one. 
Fortunately for me, I was one of Dr. Flint's 
students, and never bled anyone to death. I 
only state this particular case to show what great 
harm is done, and how long a false theory is 
practiced, before the truth is discovered. 

False theories are much more disastrous than 
superstition or absurd sectarians like the harm- 
less homeopaths. The patient has a fair chance, 
and the tendency of nature in disease is always 
to health. Nature has a powerful tendency to 
throw off disease and return to health. It is by 
this fact alone that the homeopath and other 
cheats of the medical world retain the con- 
fidence of their patrons. They give their pellets 
of therapeutical nothing, and the deluded pa- 
tients think something curative is being done for 



MEDICAI/ PKOFESSION, ETC. 279 

their relief, till nature effects a cure. If, how- 
ever, the suffering is so intolerable that the pa- 
tient begins to lose faith, the doctor, compelled 
by the great distress and pleadings of the 
sufferer for relief, abandons his pellets of noth- 
ing for more potent therapeutical agents, or a 
physician is called in, who relieves the patient, 
which, thanks to the discoveries in medicine, he 
can always do temporarily. He can, by sooth- 
ing agents, give relief, or, in extreme cases, he 
can stupefy to such an extent as to render the 
patient unconscious till time brings about a 
change in which the pain is less severe and can 
be tolerated. 

I am not at all wishing to speak disparagingly 
of my noble profession, but I am for telling the 
truth to the best of my ability in all I write. 
Doctors really cure but few diseases, compara- 
tively. It is only the acute diseases, whose 
causes are known and can be removed, that they 
really cure. All those cases in which time is 
necessarily required for nature to effect a cure, 
their efforts are only palliative. This, however, 
is necessary, and not a little significant. For in- 
stance, when the accompanying symptoms of a 
malady are so distressing that the sufferer can- 
not rest, and would exhaust himself with rest- 
less exertions, we can give artificial rest and 
repose, which are essential for his recovery. We 



280 MEDICAL PKOFESSION, ETC. 

cannot say our agents are curative, but we know, 
without them, nature would fail for want of 
necessary rest. 

In every town of five or six thousand per- 
sons there is generally one homeopath, who 
finds followers enough to support him. They are 
generally of the uneducated class. There are 
some well-educated persons who have had the 
misfortune to fall into the care of some indis- 
criminating doser, and become unjustly dis- 
gusted with the regular medical practice. In- 
competents too often cause unjust contempt for, 
as well as ridicule of, the profession, but these 
are the unconscious supporters of the empirics, 
the charlatans, and the mountebanks that prey 
on the credulous, and cause the people to dis- 
credit and lose confidence in the regular physi- 
cian, and resort to the advertised patent medi- 
cine, when the honest, practical, educated physi- 
cian is their best friend. 

If our schools would make education a little 
more universal, and teach the pupils something 
of themselves in a practical, physiological way, 
these impostors would have to seek other voca- 
tions less injurious to the sick. The greatest 
reason why there is loss of confidence in, and 
often ridicule of, the medical profession is be- 
cause some patients have the misfortune to fall 
into the hands of incompetent men, and, after 



MEDICAID PEOFESSION, ETC. 281 

being drugged till their patience is exhausted, 
they discharge the doctor and either resort to 
proprietary, or patent, medicines, -or call in the 
homeopath, either of which is preferable, for 
their remedies are generally innocent and give 
nature a chance to return to health. It seems 
to me, from the number of ignorant men turned 
out on the community to practice medicine, that 
the schools of medicine have more consideration 
for the price of the diplomas than they have 
for the welfare of the people. 

The Federal Government takes no action to 
protect its citizens, giving free access and license 
to all who hold a diploma of some medical 
school. Therefore, the country is flooded with 
all kinds of medical frauds, both of men who 
have no practical training whatever and the ad- 
vertising mountebanks of patent medicines, who 
find it easy to dupe many to believe their in- 
jurious and seemingly plausible labels and ad- 
vertisements. After reading the labels on the 
bottles and the flaming posters, it seems strange 
to a reasonable mind that so many are sick and 
sometimes die when so much health can be 
bought for so little money. 

According to my observations, a diploma in 
the hands of the lecture-taught doctor is only a 
certificate that he is now prepared to learn to 
practice medicine; but he should not be per- 



282 MEDICAL PROFESSION, ETC. 

mitted to learn at the expense and suffering of 
the people. I except the resident students of 
the hospitals, for they are practically taught. T 
have been informed that Germany does not 
recognize a diploma without a certificate from 
a reliable practitioner, or some infirmary, that 
the holder thereof is capable to practice. Then 
he is examined by a board of competent men, 
appointed for the purpose by the government. 
This reminds me of a case that will fully illus- 
trate my meaning: 

I was called to see quite an intelligent Ger- 
man machinist, who was sick with malarial fever 
of an intermittent type. Two doctors had been 
in attendance for over a week. I found him 
prostrate, with a very irritable stomach and 
bowels, vomiting and purging continually. 
After getting a history of his case, I looked 
around, and found the table, mantelpiece, and 
some chairs filled with bottles and pill-boxes, 
some of them patent, some proprietary, and 
some very nauseous, such as podophyllin. His 
stomach was so irritable that he could not re- 
tain anything, the bile regurgitating into the 
stomach, which increased the nausea, I relieved 
his distress by one-half a grain of morphine un- 
der the skin, had him sponged with cold water 
while the fever was high, and advised him not 
to take any more of the medicines ; that too much 



MEDICAL PKOFESSION, ETC. 283 

medicine was his greatest trouble. I called to 
see him several hours afterwards, and found 
him quiet, as the bowels had ceased to trouble 
him. I gave him quinine freely, and prescribed 
a tonic of iron and mineral acid as soon as his 
stomach recovered its functions and he could 
take nourishment. I told him, if he was not 
better, to let me know the following day. I heard 
no more of him for about six weeks, when he 
called at my office and asked for my bill. I did 
not recognize him, as he then was, physically, a 
fine specimen of manhood, and he had to make 
me recollect his case. I charged him four dol- 
lars for my attention. He handed me five dol- 
lars, and said he had settled the drug bill, for 
which I was responsible, which he said was 
seventy-five cents. After thanking me he started 
off, but came back and said he wanted to tell 
me something. He said, the next time, in this 
country, he called a doctor in, he would look 
to see if his forehead was as long as his front 
teeth before taking his medicine, and remarked 
such men could not practice medicine in his 
country, which was Germany. 

Having often met with similar cases in con- 
sultation with other doctors, I found that they 
thought that, as long as the patient vomited 
bile, he needed more podophyllin, or some other 
nauseous medicine, to free his system. They 



284 MEDICAL PKOFESSION, ETC. 

never once thought that it was the natural func- 
tion of the liver to secrete bile, and, just as long 
as the retching and vomiting continued, bile 
would regurgitate into the stomach, and increase 
the trouble. 

To distinguish the doctors practicing medicine 
in the United States, who have diplomas, from 
regular medical schools, I will have to class them. 

The first class we find well-educated gentle- 
men, who are candid, truthful, well versed in 
practical physiology, chemistry, anatomy, and 
therapeutics. They are above deception as 
physicians or friends. When called profession- 
ally, they give their opinion plainly, so as to be 
understood by the patient. They do not exag- 
gerate the malady, so as to make capital for 
themselves. If they are in doubt about the case, 
they freely acknowledge, from the obscurity of 
the symptoms, their inability to give a positive 
opinion, and ask time to await developments. 
They prescribe intelligently for urgent or dis- 
tressing symptoms. Their investigation is ra- 
tional and thorough. Their advice is always 
safe to follow. There is no mystery or allegorical 
expressions in their plain and sensible instruc- 
tions. They never prescribe patent or pro- 
prietary medicine. They promptly fill the indi- 
cations presented by the symptoms with the 
most reliable therapeutic agent. Such men are 



MEDICAL PEOFESSION, ETC. 285 

typical of that celebrated English author, 
Churchill, who wrote the most common-sense 
book of practical medicine I ever read. Such 
men are ornaments to the profession and a bless- 
ing to the community in which they live. 

The second class are equal to the first in nearly 
every requisite qualification. They only lack 
self-confidence. They are rather timid. They 
are too reserved, but they are admirable and 
safe physicians. 

The third class are not as thorough as the 
others in scientific research, but have a very 
good practical knowledge of therapy. They are 
observant, have a good investigating mind. By 
their observation and practice they are familiar 
with all the indigenous diseases of their locality. 
They are candid, honest, and capable. The> 
are good, safe practitioners, and are generally 
equal to most any occasion when called on. 

The fourth class are rather difficult char- 
acters to describe. They have but a limited edu- 
cation, either in a literary way or medical. Their 
ideas of themselves as to ability are conceited. 
They affect anything. They imagine them- 
selves to be surgeons without scarcely any knowl- 
edge of anatomy or inflammation in its various 
phases. They have no mechanical ingenuity. 
Their common sense is but meager. All these 
qualifications are very requisite and essential 



286 MEDICAL PKOFESSION, ETC. 

to make a surgeon. Nature has a hard struggle 
to overcome their treatment of wounds. They 
use proprietary medicine as well as the patent. 
They are sycophantic, and always agree with 
the parents' suggestions as to the treatment of 
the sick, and give them credit for their timely 
thought. They are incapable of originating an 
idea. What they lack in medical knowledge 
they endeavor to make up with myth, chicanery, 
and mystery. They try to practice medicine 
second-hand from books and the little booklets 
sent to them by the manufacturing chemist of 
proprietary medicine, which they always carry 
in their pockets for reference. They manage 
to make a great many people think them scien- 
tific physicians by affecting to know everything. 
They always exaggerate the gravity of their pa- 
tients' illness. All sore throats are diphtheria, 
but it seems to be of a non-contagious variety, as 
no one else contracts it. Every fever that is a 
little obstinate is pronounced typhoid. If the 
patients are well in a few days in spite of them, 
they tell the people it was a mild case, and man- 
age to satisfy them. 

The so-called "specialists" are becoming com 
mon. They generally affect some female malady 
for their fad, and advertise that they are pre- 
pared to treat successfully any disease to which 
women are liable. These fellows remind me of 



MEDICAL PEOFESSION, ETC. 2S7 

the piano-tuner. Every instrument he sees is 
out of tone, and, according to these specialists, 
there is no sound woman. However, they are 
soon detected and avoided. 

The most deplorable and wicked of all are 
men attempting to practice obstetrics without 
a particle of practical knowledge. Very few of 
the graduates of the schools ever saw a woman 
during labor. I will relate one case that oc- 
curred to me, to show how utterly ignorant some 
of these men are. I was called to a tedious case 
by the doctor who was in attendance, and when 
I drove up to the house he came out and in- 
formed me that I was too late ; that the bladder 
had come out. I found that a tough membrane 
was protruding from the vulva, which he mis- 
took for the bladder. This is one of many cases 
met with, showing inexcusable ignorance. Some 
of these men, after attending a few cases of 
what they think to be difficult, where, by the use 
of the short, straight forceps, and lacerating 
the perineum, the woman is relieved, think 
themselves obstetrical surgeons, when the truth 
is that any woman, who can be delivered with 
the short forceps, would, if placed in the most 
favorable position and proper support given her, 
by her own natural efforts relieve herself. This 
instrument is worse than a nuisance. Any man 
with common and mechanical sense will see that 



288 MEDICAL PBOFESSION, ETC. 



it cannot be applied till after the perineum is 
distended, and, from its shape, the handles, 
during the passage of the head, will press on 
the then fully-distended perineum, causing 
laceration from the fourchette back. It is a 
fact that the perineum never, when naturally 
lacerated, begins at the fourchette, but in- 
variably from below out. This shows, beyond a 
reasonable doubt, that the pressure of the in- 
strument is the cause. I hear of a great many 
lacerations, and surmise the use of this short 
pincers, that anyone can apply, is the cause, 
for, naturally, it is of rare occurrence. I never 
see it among the poor or the negroes, who de- 
pend on the old midwives. I never had it to 
happen with me, though I have extracted 
monsters. A very particular friend of mine 
who had had large experience told me he had 
never had it to occur with him. The forceps, 
with the proper curved blades to correspond to 
the arch which the head of the child has to de- 
scribe, when properly adjusted and in skilled 
hands, prevent injury to the perineum. The 
handles or blades never come in contact with 
it, but diminish the diameter of the head by 
compression, and are manipulated so as to fa- 
vor its gliding safely over them. These lacera- 
tions are looked on as insignificant by many, 
but the truth is that no woman is ever restored 



MEDICAL PKOFESSION, ETC. 289 

to her original condition. There is a loss of 
contractive power, which is never regained. 

There is nothing that I meet with in the 
practice of my profession that excites my sym- 
pathy, as well as indignation, as the unneces- 
sary suffering to the poor parturient woman on 
account of ignorance. It has been too often that 
I have been summoned to attend women who 
had been in the second stage of labor three days, 
when I would find a face or shoulder presenta- 
tion, that could have been turned in the begin- 
ning, not only terminating inordinate suffering, 
but making it safer for her. It would take 
quite a book to relate the distressing, not men- 
tioning the disgusting, cases I have met with. 
There is no obstetrical instrument made to hurt 
a woman in delivering her, except the short for- 
ceps. They are all made to act on the child, 
and, in my opinion, if a woman is injured, the 
one handling the instrument is at fault. With 
the help of the instruments we have, we can 
relieve any parturient woman without the least 
injury. I do not mean one with a deformed 
pelvis, of course. Therefore, to allow a woman 
to suffer inordinately and for an indefinite time 
is cruel. When progress ceases, she needs arti- 
ficial assistance. 

The practice of medicine not founded on 
philosophy and common sense is weak indeed. 



290 MEDICAL PROFESSION, ETC. 

Unfortunately for the profession, this is too lit- 
tle known or regarded by the people generally. 
We frequently see, from their weakness and cre- 
dulity, they often prefer a mountebank or some 
cunning charlatan to a learned physician; 
hence, the impostor is often extolled, and real 
worth derided. The profession look on this with 
contempt, but they cannot control the supersti- 
tion and credulity of men. and are forced to 
practice with witches and impostors as com- 
petitors. Knowing this to be the case, why 
should physicians strive to reach above 
mediocrity? But we should not be at all dis- 
couraged. By leaving generalities, and ad- 
vancing towards nature more, we will become 
better masters of our art. Universal education 
will do away with the impostor as well as the 
superstition of the people. Notwithstanding 
the many discouraging incumbrances with which 
the profession has to contend, it has made more 
progress in the past fifty years than in centuries 
before, not only in philosophy, physiology, and 
chemistry, but in the discovery of new remedies ; 
and, by concentrating medicines and preparing 
them in more convenient form, making them 
more pleasant to take. The tablets that are put 
up by our manufacturing chemists are per- 
fectly accurate to the one hundred and fiftieth 
part of a grain or less, and they are invariably 



MEDICA!L PROFESSION, ETC. 291 

reliable, and always produce the effect looked 
for. I think our chemists are too lavish with 
the many proprietary medicines and formulas. 
The innumerable "rols," "lols," "ines," 
' r tols, ' ' ' l loids, ' ' and so on, with which the world 
is flooded, are without limit, and they still are 
turning them out continually. I use but few 
of them. We know that we can select two or 
three dozen medicines, and accomplish anything, 
therapeutically, that can be done with the 
whole materia medica collectively. To illustrate: 
As an antispasmodic, opium and chloroform. As 
a cathartic, senna, sulphate; of magnesia, and 
castor oil. As an antiseptic, bichloride of mer- 
cury and carbolic acid. As an astringent, 
acetate of lead, nitrate of silver, sulphate of 
zinc, tannic acid. As a stimulant, brandy, am- 
monia, nitroglycerine. As a nervous stimulant, 
strychnine. As an alterative, mercury and 
iodide of potash. As a general tonic, iron, nitro- 
muriatic acid. As an antiperiodic, quinine, iron, 
and sulphate of zinc. As a sedative, bromide of 
potash, hydrate of chloral, and hyoscyamus. 
With this list, a physician can fill any indica- 
tion the symptoms require. 

Again, I will state that the longer we prac- 
tice the less medicine we use. It is because we 
learn to regard philosophy and nature more. In 
medicine, as in everything else, a truth once 



292 MEDICAL PKOFESSION, ETC. 

established is a truth always, and, when a dis- 
tressing symptom in any ease presents itself, 
what has before promptly given relief will do 
so again, and the physician does not need to 
trust something he knows nothing of, as is the 
ftase with patent and proprietary medicines. 

A man, to make a physician, must be endowed 
by God with good, sound judgment, and with a 
discriminating and an investigating mind, with- 
out which he is dull of apprehension or a vision- 
ary, ready to accept any new theory that pre- 
sents itself in print, no matter how absurd, such 
as Koch's lymph and many others that are cal- 
culated to do much harm instead of any benefit. 
He is a sophisticated fraud, who preys on the 
credulous and ignorant. 

By what we see in the papers and on labels 
pasted on patent medicines, no one should be 
sick, as a ready preventive or cure is at hand at 
all times. "Collier's" series of papers on the 
advertisers of secret remedies, and other 
swindlers, who dupe the unfortunate, is much 
better than I can write. I only want to call 
attention to one disease which is the hobby of 
patent-medicinei men as a scare to all who have 
a pain in the back. The symptoms are well set 
forth to convince the sufferer that he has, or 
is threatened with, Bright 's disease of the kid- 
neys, and he is warned that, if he does not take 



MEDICAL PROFESSION, ETC. 293 

a certain cure, there is no hope for him. The 
fact is that organic kidney diseases, fortunately, 
are comparatively very seldom met with, for 
they are incurable, though men have been 
known to live twenty years or more with 
Bright 's disease. If the sufferers' general 
health is good, with good appetite and diges- 
tion, they, by eating plenty of albuminous food, 
supply the waste through the kidneys, and ex- 
perience very little inconvenience. As to the 
pains in the back, they are from a number of 
causes, such as lumbago, malaria, strains, colds, 
etc. These are the troubles that get well with 
or without the cure. 

In surgery the profession has made wonderful 
advance in the past twenty years, not, so much 
in operative surgery as in appliances, antisep- 
tics, and instruments. That great surgeon, 
Erickson, with the rude instruments of his day, 
performed all the operations that are done to- 
day. His text-book is still used in the schools 
and as a reference by surgeons. Surgery is 
almost reduced to a science, and its practice is 
far more satisfactory, because the surgeon can 
predict the result with more certainty. He is 
only in doubt Avhen there are obscure, internal 
injuries, and, even then, he can see, from the 
constitutional symptoms and shock on the ner- 
vous system, the gravity of the case. In disease 



MEDICAL PEOFESSION, ETC. 



it is different. It is out of the ken of man to 
tell whether a sick person will recover or die 
when in a pathological condition. Fatal com- 
plications may arise when not at all looked for. 
What is requisite to make a good surgeon is 
good common sense, a thorough knowledge of 
anatomy, and mechanical ingenuity. With these 
requirements, operative surgery is easy, and his 
ingenuity enables him to adjust appliances to 
make the patient comfortable as well as to fix 
and secure the injury in the most favorable 
way to insure good results. 

Reform is needed to rid the profession of 
the incompetent, premature frauds with whom 
medical schools flood the country, and who 
bring want of confidence, ridicule, and contempt 
on medical practice. Just fancy a mother 
dosing her helpless babe, by the order of a 
medical ignoramus, with some incompatible nos- 
trum which increases the distress of the little 
sufferer. Humanity calls continually for relief 
from quacks. I can suggest only one that is 
calculated to be of practical benefit, and that 
is the intervention of the Federal Govern- 
ment, which can stamp out the evil of 
quackery by sending a commission of medical 
examiners to each State, who will not recognize 
a diploma as a license to practice medicine with- 
out it is accompanied with a certificate from 



MEDICAL PKOFESSION, ETC. 295 

some competent physician, or medical infirmary, 
that its owner is a practical man. All laws en- 
acted by the State legislatures have proved in- 
effectual. I hope a bill can be framed under 
the Constitution that will rectify this evil in 
the profession, and also to prevent the patent- 
medicine men from covering fences, trees, and 
gable ends of houses with their flaring and 
fraudulent advertisements. In my travels in 
Europe I saw not one. 

A universal education will help, by the schools 
teaching the advanced pupils more practical 
physiology and hygiene, and an understanding 
of natural philosophy in relation to their per- 
sons. But this is too slow. The evil is great 
and deplorable, and some prompt action is de- 
manded, not only by the profession, but hy hu- 
manity, civilization, and the citizens who are 
subjected to the evil. We are thankful that 
our government protects our persons and prop- 
erty by law as far as possible. Then, why not 
protect us from the indiscriminate, ignorant 
doser? Medicine, improperly handled, is as 
dangerous as the pistol or knife in the hands 
of the maniac, who is promptly incarcerated by 
law. If there is a time when a man should be 
conscientious, it is when, as a physician, he is 
dealing with the sick. They blindly place their 
confidence and faith in him, and are entirely 



296 MEDICAL PROFESSION, ETC. 

at his mercy. A conscientious physician devotes 
his life to the relief of others, very often with- 
out hope of money remuneration. He is a real 
self-sacrificing and noble man. 



ON THE MOSQUITO THEORY. 297 

ON THE MOSQUITO THEORY. 

I am aware that those who believe in the 
theory that the mosquito alone can convey yel- 
low fever from one to another will think it pre- 
sumption in me to pretend to deny its truth, 
after the experiments of the learned men who 
were commissioned to go to Cuba to study the 
^.ause and nature of yellow fever. But I claim 
that reason, common sense, and observation are 
frequently able to set aside theory, no matter 
by whom advanced. What I write on the sub- 
ject will be founded on truth from my own ob- 
servation and on reliable information from per- 
sons of undoubted veracity. 

I will begin by giving a history of yellow 
fever in the year 1853, which was the most fatal 
epidemic known in the South, before or since. 
I was in East Feliciana Parish that year, which 
is my native parish. The disease scourged all 
the inland towns north of New Orleans, as far 
as Jackson, Miss. Clinton and Jackson, La., 
and Woodville, Miss., though twenty and thirty 
miles from the towns on the Mississippi River, 
also had the epidemic. 

All who could left those towns, and were en- 
tertained by their friends in the surrounding 
country. Negroes were not at all susceptible 
to the disease. Those who were left in charge 



298 ON; THE MOSQUITO THEORY. 

of their masters' homes did not contract the 
disease. Not a single case occurred among the 
negroes. I also noticed that no one contracted 
the disease from those sick persons who came 
from the infected towns, and some of whom 
died at the homes of their friends in the coun- 
try. I will relate one case to illustrate the fact 
that yellow fever is not contagious away from 
an infected place: 

Mr. Palmer, a near neighbor of my father, 
visited his brother at Port Hudson. He returned 
home, was stricken, and died from black vomit. 
This man had fourteen children living in the 
house with him. My father and other friends 
visited and helped to nurse him, yet not a 
single one contracted the disease. 

Dr. E. D. Fenner stated, in his work on yel- 
low fever, that, in 1853, numbers of persons 
sick with yellow fever were taken from steam- 
boats and carried in open vehicles through the 
City of Memphis to the hospital, yet the disease 
did not spread. Not a single case occurred 
either in the city or among the attendants at 
the hospital. Memphis did not quarantine in 
the year 1853. However, in 1855, although 
Memphis was under strict quarantine regulation, 
there was a fearful epidemic there. I have been 
informed by Mr. F. P. Stubbs and other reliable 
citizens of Monroe, La., that, in 1853, Trenton, 



ON THE MOSQUITO THEORY. 299 

a village two miles above Monroe, had a very 
fatal epidemic. Several persons who visited 
their sick friends at Trenton contracted the dis- 
ease and died in Monroe, yet not a single case 
occurred in the latter town. 

I think the above facts are sufficient to prove 
beyond a doubt that yellow fever is not a con- 
tagious disease away from an infected place. I 
recall, in the year 1858, while a medical stu- 
dent at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans, 
yellow fever was prevalent only on Philip and 
Grirod Streets, and that very few cases occurred 
elsewhere in the city. Again, it is a notable fact 
that there were cases of yellow fever every year 
in New Orleans, but they did not become epi- 
demic. I suppose they were of a sporadic type. 
When General "Spoons" Butler occupied the 
city he used his military power, and had the 
city thoroughly cleaned, and, though the port 
was open to vessels from all nations, not a single 
case of yellow fever occurred in New Orleans 
while he remained there, or for some time after. 
I will relate only one of the many cases where 
the disease has been conveyed in goods shipped 
from infected places. As I do not intend making 
this paper unnecessarily long, I mention this 
case because it occurred near where I lived, and, 
therefore, I know it to be true. 



300 0±m THE MOSQUITO THEORY. 

Colonel Fluker, who lived in East Feliciana 
Parish near Port Hudson, in November, 1853. 
while visiting a plantation on which he had an 
overseer, remained over night. In the room he 
occupied there was a box of blankets that he 
had sent from New Orleans to divide among the 
negroes. The night being cold, he had the box 
opened and a pair of blankets out of the box 
placed on the bed in which he slept. Fourteen 
days after he slept in that room he was taken 
with yellow fever and died after black vomit. 

I know of a number of similar cases, but 
this, I think, is sufficient to show that there is 
danger in receiving goods from infected locali- 
ties without the precaution of disinfecting them. 

I will now take into consideration the mos- 
quito theory. Why is it a fact that negroes did 
not contract the yellow fever in 1853? They 
were more exposed to mosquitoes than the 
whites, because the white people, generally, 
were better provided with bars than negroes. 
Again, why is it a fact that negroes are less sus- 
ceptible than the whites to the disease in coun- 
tries where the disease is indigenous? All are 
exposed to the mosquito, the negro more so. 
Why is it that the yellow fever did not spread 
in Memphis and Monroe in 1853? Both had 
plenty mosquitoes, and subjects for them to get 
charged from. Why did the disease become epi- 



ON THE MOSQUITO THEOET. 301 

demic in Memphis in 1855, in spite of rigid 
quarantine? Mosquitoes were there both years 
Why is it a fact that General "Spoons" But- 
ler prevented the disease occurring in New Or- 
leans? He did not make war on the mosquito. 
Why is it a fact that there was no epidemic in 
New Orleans for some years after Butler left 
the city? There were plenty mosquitoes there 
all the time, and always will be as long as stag- 
nant water will produce them. Why is it a 
fact that, after General Wood took charge of 
Havana, that city quarantined against New Or- 
leans? General Wood did not destroy all the 
mosquitoes in Havana. The people there still 
have to use bars on their beds. Why is it that 
there was no epidemic in New Orleans in 1906? 
There were plenty of mosquitoes all the while. 
Why is it that yellow fever did not spread and 
become epidemic, in 1853, north of Jackson and 
Vicksburg, though cases were carried to other 
places which are always infested with mos- 
quitoes? Why is it that the disease spread at 
Tallulah in spite of the nets and fumigation 
used on the cases brought there early after be- 
ing attacked? Prom whence does the mosquito 
get its first charge of yellow-fever poison to 
inoculate the first victim after an absence of 
yellow fever for years? 



302 ON THE MOSQUITO THEORY. 

After thinking over the above interrogations, 
I can but think the theory absurd. It is for- 
tunate, however, the delusion is accepted by the 
Government, because the very means that are 
resorted to to destroy the pest is, also, the most 
potent to prevent the germ of yellow fever de- 
veloping. It is impossible to destroy all the 
mosquitoes; but, by beginning early with dis- 
infectants and thorough cleanliness and drain- 
age, it is possible, before warm weather can fer- 
ment the filth and set free the miasma, to re- 
move the filth. It is a well-known fact that car- 
bolic acid prevents fermentation and destroys 
disease germs. Also, furnishing pure drinking 
water is a great advantage to health. I believe 
yellow fever is of zymotic origin, as well as ma- 
laria. The fermentation of all kinds of noxious 
matter that accumulates in cities produces a 
different miasma from vegetable decomposition 
in the country, causing yellow fever in the 
former, and malarial fever in the latter. Since 
the mosquito theory as to yellow fever, it is 
thought by many that they, too, convey malarial 
fever, giving, as a reason, that malarial fevers 
are more general when there are many mos- 
quitoes. The same reason is applicable to frogs. 
When there is a concert of millions of frogs 
every night, fevers are very frequent. If ma- 
laria is inoculated by mosquitoes, why so many 



ON THE MOSQUITO THEORY. 303 

types of fever? We find some with intermittent 
fever, as quotidian, tertian, double quotidian, 
remittent, typho-malarial, hsematuric, congestive 
fevers— all occurring at the same time and in 
the same locality.^ If the mosquitoes conveyed 
the malaria, it seems they would produce a dis- 
tinct type, and everyone would get inoculated. 
None would escape, for they prey on all. 

I have endeavored to show that yellow fever 
is not a contagious disease except in an infected 
place where it is epidemic. I believe, if a num- 
ber of healthy men were protected by screens, 
so that it would be impossible for a mosquito 
to have access to them, and should camp on the 
streets of a city, in an infected district, a few 
nights, the most of them, if not all, would con- 
tract yellow fever. To me it is a curious fact 
that Rome and Naples, having about the same 
climate as New Orleans, never produce yellow 
fever. It is reasonable to suppose that all large 
cities have about the same noxious substances 
accumulating and decomposing within their 
limits. 

I spent the month of January in Italy, two 
weeks of which were passed in Rome. Modern 
Rome is a beautiful, clean city; ancient Rome 
is rough. The streets are narrow. A great many 
of them are not more than twelve feet wide and 
have no sidewalks. The houses show their an- 



304 ON THE MOSQUITO THEORY. 

tiquity. I noticed the children, the goats, and 
thq geese go in and come ont of the same door. 
I was told that this part of the city was flooded 
every night, and the Roman fever was nearly a 
disease of the past. Rome has the most beauti- 
ful fountains and the most perfect system of 
waterworks of any city I ever saw. Modern 
Rome reminds me of Washington City as to 
cleanliness of streets. 

In conclusion, I believe the people of New 
Orleans should admit that it is probable that 
yellow fever can originate there as well as in 
Havana. Why not? The heated term is about 
the same in both cities. They are fanned by 
the same Gulf breezes. If they will begin early 
to clean the city, and use disinfectants, and 
fumigate thoroughly and persistently, even if 
they fail to destroy the mosquito, yellow fever 
will become, like the Roman fever, a disease of 
the past; and, should a case be imported, the 
disease will not become epidemic, though the 
mosquito will continue to come early and stay 
late, as the citizens will testify. The advocates 
of the theory that the mosquito carries yellow 
fever make it out an injector, when it evidently 
is a sucker. 



ON IDEAL GOVERNMENT. 305 

ON IDEAL GOVERNMENT. 

Will the time ever come when any nation on 
the globe will have a government founded 
strictly on impartial justice to all; when the 
officers of the law will become indignant when 
the most humble citizen is in any way imposed 
upon by individuals, wealthy corporations, 
trusts, military or religious, which, by mo- 
nopolizing the real necessaries of life, raise the 
price of food to benefit the few, and thus op- 
press the many; when food will not be adul- 
terated; when drugs will be pure; when fraud 
will not be practiced; when courts of justice 
will not be at all influenced by money, thereby 
letting the wealthy criminal escape and punish- 
ing the wicked poor man, whose greatest 
offense may be that he is not able to write a 
check which is large enough to make the officers 
think him innocent; when money and favor will 
cease to find positions for the incompetent, who 
are unworthy from ignorance, want of morality, 
etc. ; when intelligence, moral worth, and in- 
tegrity will be the standard-bearers which will 
conduct men into offices of trust; when honor 
will go to the polls with the voter, and he will 
feel his vote is sacred, because it secures to him 
his political liberty; when the public will be 
protected from the abuse of empirics, charlatans, 



306 ON IDEAL GOVERNMENT. 

and the so-called patent medicines; when li- 
cense will be given only to practical men to 
practice medicine, with the exception of those 
who were resident students in a hospital? 

The graduates of medical schools are almost 
totally impractical, a diploma being only an 
evidence that they are prepared to learn to prac- 
tice, and this should not be at the suffering and 
expense of the sick. Before obtaining a license, 
the applicant should have a certificate, either 
from a respectable practitioner or an infirmary, 
that he is a practical man. Then, after a prac- 
tical examination by a board of competent 
men, he may be permitted to practice. An 
ignorant man practicing medicine is more dan- 
gerous to a community than a lunatic with a 
pistol. The United States is more lax in this 
respect than are European countries. 

To protect its people should be the main ob- 
ject of a nation. No nation can long maintain 
the martial vigor, the spirit of abnegation, and 
devotion to country, so essential to the integrity 
and welfare of government, when dishonest and 
unscrupulous wealth, organized monopoly, and 
legalized theft conspire to plunder the honest 
laborer and helpless taxpayer. The soldier loves 
his flag, because he looks upon it as an emblem 
of honesty, fair dealing, and equal rights to all, 
under the law and constitution. I well remem- 



Ox* IDEAL GOVERNMENT. 307 

ber the feeling of pride, and how my heart 
leaped, when I saw that flag on my return from 
Italy. Although I had been gone only three 
months, the sight of those stars and stripes 
waving from a steamer cheered me greatly. 

I hope the time will come when that fallacious 
idea that so-called royalty has a divine right to 
inherit control of nations and of generations yet 
unborn will die out. An honest man is the only 
nobleman created by God, and the titled aris- 
tocracy created by royalty Jshould be insig- 
nificant in the eyes of all men, who are en- 
dowed by God with the inalienable right to 
choose their rulers, who hold office by consent 
of the people. Nations should acknowledge no 
king but the Creator of the Universe, who gave 
it to them for a habitation, in which to live as 
freemen, and not slaves to anyone who wears 
a crown by the accident of birth. I hope the 
whole world will bei one grand republic, with 
God for its king. 

The multimillionaire can sleep tranquilly and 
peacefully in his bed because his hoarded mil- 
lions are kept secure by the watchful soldier 
and policeman, who are paid by the Government 
to protect life and property. Then, is it not 
just that he be required to pay an income tax? 
It is seldom the wealthy pay an equal tax with 
the poorer class, because the assessor fails to 



308 ON IDEAIi GOVERNMENT. 

find all their property, while what the poor man 
has is taxed in full. The fact is that the com- 
paratively poor, under existing conditions, run 
the Government. If the taxes that are being 
paid by the people were equalized, the Govern- 
ment would soon have much more money than 
would be needed, and taxes would be less on the 
people. Justice demands an income tax, as well 
as an incorruptible assessor, who will propor- 
tionately assess the property of all. Honest as- 
sessors and police jurors are more important to 
the welfare of a State than the Governor or 
State 's Attorney-General. 

There is a circumscribed spot near civilized 
Europe that is permitted to remain a shame to 
humanity, justice, mercy, and decency, and 
which is very offensive to civilized nostrils. That 
spot is Turkey, where women are captured by 
pirates, placed in a prison called a " harem, " 
guarded by slaves, where they are not only 
made slaves themselves, but are prostituted by 
an inhuman demon in the shape of a man. This 
horrible practice has been tolerated for cen- 
turies. I think the time has arrived for na- 
tions claiming to be civilized, and which believe 
in Christianity and mercy, to either abandon 
what they profess or change this polluted hell 
on earth to a republic, or divide it among them- 
selves. The world is disgusted with it. All 



ON IDEAL GOVERNMENT. 309 

who respect woman detest it. All lovers of 
mercy, justice, and virtue hate it. Then, in th^ 
name of the God of love, justice, and mercy, de- 
molish it! 

The politicians of the Federal Government 
are still ignorant of the nature of the negro 
race. They are continually placing black men 
in office in order to humiliate the Anglo-Saxon 
element. Instead of being humiliated, the lat- 
ter feel only contempt and disgust. It seems 
strange that these politicians cannot see that 
the negroes, generally, are devoid of gratitude, 
morality, and refinement. They still retain the 
instinct of imitation, like their forefathers, who, 
a few centuries ago, were hanging by their 
tails, chattering, in the jungles of Africa, They 
are presumptuous to an inordinate degree. 
When placed in positions that they are not fitted 
for, they soon render themselves intolerable 
and disgusting in the extreme. They should 
never be allowed in the army. They are a black 
stain on the once bright escutcheon of the 
American soldier, rendering themselves ob- 
noxious on all occasions. They will, I think, be 
the means of driving the Republican party out 
of power as well as themselves out of the army. 

The law operates an injustice on women in 
the marriage relation. The marriage of men and 
women, though solemnized by sentimental and 



310 ON IDEAL GOVEKNMENT. 

religious ideas and ceremonies, morally binding 
on both to the same degree, is really, in the 
eyes of the law and society, a contract or 
business transaction, or, rather, a legal under- 
taking by the man to support the woman, pro- 
vided she surrenders herself to his exclusive 
control. To obtain the benefit of a part of his 
property, she becomes property herself. Prac- 
tically, for her maintenance by her husband, 
she, in return, must hold herself at his sole dis- 
posal, and remain in personal subjection not 
only in her sexual relation, but in all her de- 
portment, to the man on whom she looks for her 
support. The worst is that, intellectually and 
morally, she has to sacrifice her individuality. 
She feels herself degraded by the conventional 
slavery that destroys all spontaneous and indi- 
vidual impulses. She really lives a kind of un- 
natural or artificial life. She is treated, gen- 
erally, as naturally an inferior, and derided by 
men. Thanks to higher education for women, 
they are freeing themselves from this state of 
slavish dependence. They have proved to the 
world they are equal to men in thought and 
action. They are entering into every pursuit of 
men in the learned professions, and claiming 
their independence in various ways which were 
conventionally prohibited twenty years ago by 
society. Yet, at this time, millions of helpless 



ON IDEAL GOVEBNMDENT. 311 

women, who cannot obtain the support of men 
on honorable terms, are forced to sell themselves 
or starve. This is termed by the so-called 
philanthropist a moral evil, resulting from de- 
pravity. It is by no means generally so. Let 
the law, both civil and social, give women equal 
rights as to sexual ethics. Treat men, when they 
violate their moral obligation, as women are 
treated. Women's struggles to improve the 
morals of men fail because they are attempting 
an impossibility. The movement made by the 
leaders of the Women's Christian Temperance 
Union to force, by law, men to cease the use of 
intoxicating liquors, under the impression that 
their abuse is the result of wickedness, and to 
stop it was all that was necessary to accom- 
plish men's moral reform, has been a failure. 
This idea is erroneous without a change of the 
system, equalizing the ways of obtaining the 
necessary means to sustain life, as the system 
now stands. If, by law, women were made to 
change places with the men, they would treat 
the men as they themselves were treated by men. 
Their hope in the temperance revolt is that, 
if men drank less, they would be less likely to 
abuse them, and would be able to provide more 
liberally* for their maintenance. The correct 
idea of abolishing the power to abuse them 
never occurred to them. 



312 ON IDEAL GOVERNMENT. 

This is the correct idea: As soon as women 
are independent of men for their support, they 
will have more power to improve the morals of 
men than any law that can be enacted by the 
Legislature. They can then repulse anyone who 
does not come up to their standard in a moral 
way. There are plenty of good men who glory 
in their refined and educated wives because the 
latter maintain their individuality and equality. 
Such women represent the women of the future. 
In place of devoting their time to the study of 
fashion-plates, and trying in every way to per- 
sonally please men, and to conform to their 
prejudices in order to attract them, women, as 
soon as enough are fitted for making their own 
living independent of men, will have the power 
to improve the morals of men. Because a 
woman struggles for an independent existence, 
must she be looked on as depraved, as if she was 
selling her soul to the devil for the privilege of 
making her own living? Which is the woman 
worthy of respect? She who strives to be inde- 
pendent, or she who parades the streets to at- 
tract the attention and admiration of some 
worthless, loafing dude, who contaminates so- 
ciety, and always lives obsequiously? 

The time has not yet come in civilized demo- 
cratic government when even learned men of all 
professions are not independent in thought, 



ON IDEAL GOVERNMENT. 313 

speech, or action. Take, first, the clergy. They 
are only employees either of congregations of 
different religions or sectarians paid to teach 
the prescribed opinions of their employers. 
Every independent thought is criticised care- 
fully. They risk the loss of their living if they 
depart from the particular creed of the sect 
by whom they are called. Take the higher 
branches of secular teaching in colleges. Should 
a professor teach some special live issue, and 
instruct his class in a way that is inconsistent 
with the ideas of the board of directors, he is 
asked to alter his dogmatic course or resign. 
Take the journalistic or editorial profession, 
with all its influence on the public mind, and 
we find the same want of independence. They 
are employed to represent and advocate the in- 
terest of the parties who own the paper, and no 
other; but they must change their opinions as 
the owners see cause to change theirs. They are 
all intellectual slaves. Education does not free 
them from the bondage of capital. 

We see that the government is practically run 
in the interests of the capitalists, and not for 
the interests of the people. This will continue 
as long as the trusts and the monopolizing 
millionaires corrupt the voter, and defeat the 
will of the best people of the nation. We call 
ours a government of the people by the people, 



314 ON IDEAL GOVERNMENT. 



but practically it is one for the capitalist by the 
capitalist. 

I am a Democrat from principle, and hope 
to see the day when our Government will be 
Democratic in reality as well as in name. The 
inability of royalty to sustain its dignity and 
command respect will cause its inevitable col- 
lapse, and then conservative, liberal, and decent 
government will begin. 

So mote it be ! Amen ! 



ON KEFORM. 315 



ON REFORM. 
When w& hear of reform we feel that some- 
thing is going wrong, and that some action is 
necessary on the part of society, or those 
officially situated, whose duty it is, to correct the 
evil. Ethically, society has much more control 
of the morals of people than acts of the legis- 
lature. By culture, more is accomplished than 
by any other means. The cultured in society 
should be more exclusive, so as to have full 
sway to correct and improve the morals of those 
in their immediate vicinity. We very often no- 
tice that leaders in society are too lax as to 
ethics by tacitly allowing those who are both 
immoral and lacking in culture to become their 
intimate associates. When this is the case, so- 
ciety is weak and ineffectual in causing any 
decided, moral benefit. Society, by culture, 
should aim at moral perfection, whether they 
think it possible to obtain this or not. They 
should gravitate towards it by continually 
making attempts to extend its power over the 
spirit of the human race. Men, as a whole, are 
members of society, notv/ithstanding the want 
of education or morality excludes some of them 
from the more cultured and refined circles. Sym- 
pathy for human nature does not allow the more 
fortunate class to be indifferent to the rest. 



316 ON REFORM. 



Culture lays on persons a duty, or, rather, an 
obligation, to increase their own happiness by 
promoting the welfare of others. By the study 
of human nature, and by experience, we learn 
to conceive and perceive the power and the 
beauty of moral worth in human nature. Too 
many of the persons who make up the cultured 
society of our country look upon the very 
wealthy as a kind of privileged class, and are 
blind as to their want of morality or even 
decency. The influence of their wealth alone 
admits them into society, when, without the 
cloak of wealth to hide, as it were, their iniquity, 
they would be excluded; yet, such is often the 
power of wealth that the possessors of it, 
though guilty of every vice repulsive to virtue 
or morality, insinuate themselves, and are even 
invited to join in the social circle of really re- 
fined people. Even select society wants moral 
courage to exclude the purse-proud, who are 
traitors to moral rectitude, but who feel that 
their wealth is sufficient while there are syco- 
phants enough among society leaders to insure 
their admittance. Hence, reformation in pride 
and courage is needed by those leaders of so- 
ciety if reform-is to be effectual. 

Reformation is necessary in all the various 
vocations of life— to abolish jockeyism from the 
politician; to rid the religious profession of 



ON REFORM. 317 



ignorance, hypocrisy, and superstition; the 
medical profession of frauds, charlatans, and 
ignoramuses; the journalists from making false 
statements in their publications; the judges 
from partiality and want of due consideration 
for justice; the monopolists from imposition 
and corruption, politically and otherwise; the 
workmen and employees from injudicious 
strikes, which not only bring distress on them- 
selves and their dependent families, but inter- 
fere with commerce and the comfort of many 
who are innocent of causing their grievances. 
Those who stand in the greatest need of reform 
are the tyrants who have charge of helpless 
children, be they parents, teachers, mothers- 
superior of convents, or matrons of homes for 
children. Cruelty practiced on these little 
creatures is too wicked to be tolerated by so- 
ciety, and the most rigorous and strict watch 
should be kept to protect them, and heavy pen- 
alties inflicted on anyone guilty of cruelty to 
them. Nothing in the world shocks the sym- 
pathetic mind like the pitiful screams and cries 
of a child while being tortured by the cruel lash. 
Anyone who will whip a little child is a 
stranger to the Christian religion. 

All really cultured persons are naturally utili- 
tarians in principle, and they work for the 
happiness of the greatest number. Their aim is 



318 ON REFORM. 



to improve the world both socially and polit- 
ically. That great and noble man, Benjamin 
Franklin, was a Deist in religious belief, and a 
utilitarian in principle. No eulogist has ever 
written a panegyric elaborate enough to express 
the igratitude felt by the world for his achieve- 
ments. He is more alive in history than any 
other man produced by America. His praise is 
sounded throughout the civilized world, espe- 
cially by the people of France, where his in- 
fluence was felt during the Revolution. His 
principles and virtues are as constant in the 
minds of all good men as the flow of the tide, 
and will lead them to practice virtue and econ- 
omy. He inspired all men with the powerful 
common sense and philosophical reason with 
which God endowed him. No other man ever 
exerted himself to spread principles of industry 
and virtue for the good of mankind more than 
Franklin did. There lived at the same time with 
Franklin great men whom he admired and who 
praised and loved him— such men as Victor 
Hugo, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, Eugene Sue, 
Hume, and many others. 

Though it is probably impossible for human 
nature to attain perfection, such men as above 
mentioned have devoted their lives to leading 
men towards it. We have the biographies of 
these men, and they still live in spirit through 



ON REFORM. 319 



the books they wrote. Those who are so de- 
praved as not to love such men, and appreciate 
their efforts' to reform mankind, are incapable 
of being improved by culture. Shakespeare says : 
"Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of 

rage, 
But music for the time doth change his nature. 
The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treasons, strategems, and spoils. 
The motions of his spirit are as dull as night, 

and his affections dark as Erebus. 
Let no such men be trusted. 
Mark the music!" 

As of music, so of all culture. 'Such men as 
have not love in themselves for their fellow-men, 
and bear hatred for what is beautiful in nature, 
and despise the refined and cultured of their 
race, are only fit for murder, death, and hell. 
Such men should be avoided. They are not 
trustworthy. They menace and corrupt society. 

Depravity of manners and morals in women 
shocks us, but excites our sympathy more than 
when seen in men. Yet women have more in- 
fluence over the moral rectitude of men in so- 
ciety than their own sex have. The presence of 
a refined lady will modify the coarse, rough na^- 
ture of men at all times and under all circum- 
stances. Men, when intoxicated and boisterous, 



320 ON KEFOKM. 



at the sight of a lady will suddenly change their 
mood, and try to affect a more gentlemanly man- 
ner and appearance. The presence of a woman 
can modify the most vicious. She excites a 
kind of chivalry and affected pride in men who 
do not ordinarily know the first principles of a 
gentleman. Refined women are the proper and 
most successful leaders of good society. Men 
should be subordinate to them, but help them 
with heart and soul. 

Woman is not loved alone 
For the beauty of her face, 

But for her natural modesty, 
And for her unaffected grace. 



CONCLUSION. 321 



CONCLUSION. 

I have read the Old and New Testaments 
through as I would any other book, and have 
no idea that they can be, as they are claimed to 
be by the Church, the word of the Creator of 
the Universe, the true God of truth, love, and 
mercy. I find them to be a fabrication by no 
one knows whom. It is impossible to believe 
God would be a party to the cruelty, injustice, 
murder, and untruth with which I find this so- 
called word of God filled. The books ascribed 
to Moses and the prophets are filled with ob- 
scene fables and the murder of whole nations 
by famine and pestilence. The story of God 
hardening the heart of Pharaoh several times 
in order to show His power is to make Him out 
to be the most inhuman, arrogant tyrant that 
could be imagined, and the injustice practiced 
on the Egyptians is too plain not to be seen by 
any reasonable mind. Pharaoh did not suffer 
personally by the different plagues, but the in- 
nocent women and children, who were helpless 
as well as innocent, were made to suffer because 
God is said to have influenced Pharaoh not to 
submit to the demands of Moses till many fear- 
ful exhibitions of His power could be shown to 
prove He was God and all-powerful. This is 
arrogance. 



322 CONCLUSION. 



A great many stories in these books must be 
untrue, because they were impossible, being 
contrary to the laws of nature, which are the 
laws of God. It is very probable that men 
wrote and told lies, but that God sanctioned 
them is impossible. All the wonderful things 
told by Mioses were impossible, and we only 
have his word for them, and we are not obliged 
to believe them. God could have proclaimed 
them publicly as easily as He could in secret 
to Moses. The same with the many impossible 
things said and claimed to have been done by 
Joshua, such as stopping the sun and moon, 
causing the walls around Jericho to tumble 
down at the sound of rams' horns and the shout- 
ing of his army, his meeting with the angel cap- 
tain, and such stories. We have only his word 
for them, and we are not bound to believe them. 
Being entirely contrary to God's law of nature, 
it is natural to disbelieve them. The matter of 
Jonah and the whale is another of the many 
hard things we find in this word of God which 
are quite difficult to reconcile a reasonable mind 
to accept as truth. This story makes God a 
very capricious person, as he put Jonah to all 
this unreasonable trouble for nothing. 

There was not much change in the minds of 
men as to religious views till the advent of 
Christ, when, with his moral teaching and 



CONCLUSION. 323 



brotherly love, there was a revolution in their 
sentiments. God 's nostrils became satiated 
with the odor of the burning flesh of the sac- 
rifice. He gradually became tired of the flow 
of blood. Humanity became more and more ac- 
ceptable as the teaching of Christ spread among 
the people, until the beautiful system of 
morality was destroyed by the Church erecting 
that barrier called "salvation," which separated 
God from man. Then came the continual re- 
ligious wars incited by the priests, who, in their 
great zeal and love for God and hatred for man, 
came with the Inquisition, with sword, ax, gib- 
bet, and rack in one hand, and holy water in 
the other. This continued for centuries, until 
education and civilization revolted, culminating 
in the French Revolution, which freed the peo- 
ple from Church persecution. There has been 
a gradual improvement since. Religious quar- 
rels are less frequent. Persons can differ as to 
the proper way to salvation without cutting 
each other's throats. Human beings can have 
different opinions about the next world and not 
become enemies in this. 

The most wonderful change has been made 
by the progress of science and the universality 
of higher education, accompanied by modern 
suppression of superficial teaching, either intel- 
lectual or religious, allowing the people to 



S24 CONCLUSION. 



choose the best intellects and the most inspired 
moralists of their generation for teachers. The 
time has nearly arrived when quarreling among 
persons will cease, which was in former times 
kept up by preachers and priests. Though they 
are comparatively few, they make much trouble, 
because the masses of the people are ignorant as 
well as superstitious, and are simple enough to 
allow themselves to be made tools of by the 
ministry. The cultured classes are rapidly gain- 
ing the ascendant, but they hold a tolerant re- 
gard for the clergy, because they are yet 
needed in controlling the ignorant class. This 
class is becoming less every year, and the in- 
fluence and authority of the clergy are disap- 
pearing. The lines of sectarianism are fading 
and becoming obscure. The creeds of the differ- 
ent sects are falling into contempt. Traditional 
ideas are being disregarded, and the world is 
approaching a great change as to religion. 
Doubtless, if the clergy of to-day had to depend 
on the support of the opinion of men, they 
would be inclined to abandon all hope of re- 
taining their influence, but there is still left 
to them an element which keeps up their cour- 
age. It is the influence of women. They are 
to-day the sheet-anchor and chief support of 
the Church. They are not only the chief at- 
tendants at all religious meetings, but it is 



CONCLUSION. 325 



largely through their influence that the more 
cultured men tolerate the pretensions of the 
priests. But how long can they hope for even 
their support to last? 

. The position of woman will not remain un- 
changed. We already notice the elevation and 
enlargement of her sphere in every direction. 
There is a revolution going on in her mind as 
well as in man's. She is no longer the docile be- 
ing she formerly was. 'She was less educated, 
as a rule, than man. Unaccustomed to rely on 
herself, she rested her faith on the authority of 
tradition, both in religion and political econ- 
omy. There is now no difference in the educa- 
tion of the sexes. She is becoming independent 
and more interested in the practical conduct 
of affairs. In the pursuits of life she joins with 
man on equal terms. In the search for knowl- 
edge of nature, and her relation to destiny, 
spiritual and material, woman has been asleep. 
She is waking up. The great Church organiza- 
tion and machinery and capital, covered by the 
name of "religion," are; disappearing from her 
more enlightened mind. She evinces a lack of 
interest in the spiritual questions which were 
a monopoly and the special province of priests, 
who stood as the only interpreters between man 
and infinity, claiming the power to guarantee 
the spiritual welfare of those who put their 



326 CONCLUSION. 



trust in them. She is beginning to realize that 
the abolition of priestly authority leaves her 
soul face to face with the mystery of the here- 
after, of which she knows as much as they. She 
no longer looks backward, thinking, like the 
priests teach, that the past is more divine than 
the present. She looks forward for inspiration, 
knowing that science teaches more satisfactory 
knowledge than what has been attained in the 
past. 

If the tradition of God sending his son to be 
crucified for the salvation of the world (which 
is now growing obscure) should, for the sake 
of argument, be true, what of the many hab- 
itable planets that accompany our world, which 
are numerous enough? Allowing that it took 
about thirty-three years for Christ to fulfill his 
mission in this, it would probably take as long 
with each of the other worlds God has made. 
As it is stated in the Bible that He had only 
one son, that son is still being crucified, and 
will continue to be for some centuries to come, 
allowing him to visit only the solar system. This 
idea is not more absurd than many others the 
theologians ask us to believe. The time has 
come that we cease to study the theology of the 
unknowable, and study the more tangible sci- 
ence that I call, for want of a better name, the 
"Ostheopathy"— that is, the things that are 



CONCLUSION. 327 



still undiscovered in God 's great book of -nature, 
which is always open to us. 

The preachers of theology, and its myth and 
mystery, can only explain to the superstitious 
and ignorant their allegorical meaning. This 
cannot be accepted by the higher-cultured mind> 
as reason forbids. Therefore, when the mind 
becomes emancipated by higher culture, the dis- 
courses on things that are in their nature im- 
possible to be understood will cease to be inter- 
esting or listened to with patience, and 
theologians will have to resort to themes more 
probable. 

I have yet to find where God ever worked a 
miracle to convert either an atheist or a 
philosopher. He lighted up His great miracle 
of the universe to his view, and by the study of 
its wonders he became converted, and there 
does not exist an educated man who is an 
atheist. Again, I fail to find a reasonable 
foundation for the faith so zealously practiced 
by the Romish Church. When investigated by 
the most scientific men, they fail to discover any 
truth in its mythological theory, only ghosts, 
saints, and miracles, which it attempts to sus- 
tain by its only science, which is mythology, 
both ancient and modern, and which reason 
condemns as false. The Church has one founda- 
tion that it depends upon, which is more sub- 



328 CONCLUSION. 



stantial, and that is gold and wealth, which are 
accumulated by its great zeal. To obtain 
them, it goes to extreme lengths— even murder, 
plunder, and bloody persecutions— as will be 
shown by the Church crusades in the south of 
France and Spain. There it encouraged its so- 
called knights by its false, immoral faith to 
murder and plunder indiscriminately. It in- 
structed them that their souls' salvation did not 
depend on their moral improvement; that it 
was in obeying the mandates of the Church, 
which are as follows: 

The Church holds the soul of man in immoral 
slavery. It absolved the invaders before and 
after crimes of blood and plunder and the 
most horrid persecutions. Man is taught that 
the Church takes the place of his conscience, 
and teaches him that he cannot be freed from 
the torments of hell by mending his conduct or 
moral actions. To save his soul he must hear 
mass, do penance, and go through a lot of 
prayers to the saints, whose influence can be 
bought of the Church. Man must not presume 
to stand in any direct relation to God. He must 
have a mediator in the shape of a saint or the 
father confessor, to whom he must confess all 
the incidents and conduct of his life, and ex- 
pose them in full view of the confessor, after 
which the confessor informs him what course 



CONCLUSION. 329 



he must pursue to obtain his spiritual safety. 

; Such men, who look to the Church for their 
souls' salvation, from the hell the Church pic- 
tures to them in eloquent horror, were sent to 
plunder the south of France and Spain. The 
Pope being at the head of the enterprise, not 
only granted indulgences to commit all kinds of 
wickedness— murder, plunder, torture— but aft- 
erwards, as the viceroy of Christ, gave to the 
assassins his blessings, in the name of God, 
Christ, and the Holy Ghost, for their services 
to the Church. With this was added absolu- 
tion. This his holiness did. After the massacre 
of Saint Bartholomew he blessed the assassins. 
The power of the Pope at this time was su- 
preme politically. The kings and princes were 
in a subordinate position, and were only acting 
as executives for the Pope. Their minds were 
held in bondage by superstition, and the 
Church took the place of conscience. 

This shows plainly that the greatest wisdom 
in the political world is to entirely and 
effectually separate the laws and constitution of 
the state from religion. It is an undoubted 
fact, with the Romish religion, no rational kind 
of legislation is possible, for government and 
people must be together in disposition, which 
is impossible in religion, which is opposed to a 
rational constitution. In the Romish religion 



330 CONCLUSION. 



the Church must govern the mind. In the con- 
stitution of the United States, where right prin- 
ciple only was the idea, religion is not noticed. 
The French Revolution set aside religious in- 
fluence in France, which had formerly cor- 
rupted the people and kept them in continual 
war among themselves, and really was one of 
the main causes of the revolution. 

Religious intolerance should be banished from 
every land. That it has caused the world suffer- 
ing and blood enough I leave history to answer, 
permits us to profess and practice various re- 
ligions in different forms. "We include hon- 
esty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and love for 
our fellow-man, while we adore an overruling 
Providence that delights in the happiness of 
man while living, and inspires him with the 
hope for his greater happiness hereafter. 

It is an historical fact that the very devout 
Roman Catholic kings were not at all moral or 
merciful. They all proved tyrants, and were 
dissolute and sensual. Think of the courts of 
France in the reigns of Louis XIV. and XV., 
with such women as the celebrated Madame 
Du Barry to direct the morals of society. While 
the kings were under such influence and the 
Pope's control the kings were granted indul- 
gences for all manner of wickedness and crimes. 



CONCLUSION. 331 



While the Church was in possession of their 
consciences, they were assured of absolution and 
the blessings of the Church when life ended. 
Can anyone wonder at the disgust of civilized 
men and their resort to revolution? It had to 
come, with all its horrors, to rid Catholic 
France of popedom. France seems at this time 
still revengeful for her past wrongs, which she 
exhibits by closing Catholic schools to prevent 
them from deluding coming generations. 

Another grievous wrong to society is still be- 
ing practiced by the Church. Children are still 
being taught all the false ideas of creeds, saints, 
and ghosts, while the horrors of purgatory, 
death, and hell are kept continually before their 
weak, susceptible minds, till they believe they 
are real. Then, after being further deluded 
with the belief that the Church alone has the 
power through her priests and saints, to save 
their souls from everlasting torment, their 
minds become bewildered, and the priests get 
unlimited control of their reason. It is by this 
power that thousands of beautiful, innocent 
girls all over the civilized world are being led 
into their convents, to be shorn of every orna- 
ment, even the beautiful hair that covers their 
heads. These the Church calls vanities of the 
world, which are calculated to divert their 
minds from holy thoughts of the wicked world. 



332 CONCLUSION. 



They are made to believe that involuntary 
thoughts are wicked, and that when guilty they 
must confess to the father confessor, who 
directs them to do penance by torturing their 
delicate flesh and repeating a number of prayers 
to the saints, who will reconcile an angry God. 
They must renounce every thought of worldly 
pleasure, devote their whole lives to the Church 
and prayers. They consider themselves dead 
to the world. No religion can be the true re- 
ligion that casts gloom over life in place of joy 
and love, and which forces an innocent girl to 
live an unnatural life, confined in a gloomy 
cell, surrounded by ghostly saints, and kneeling 
until sore, saying over prayers before a picture 
representing Christ suspended on a cross. It 
would take the pen of a Victor Hugo to detail 
the horrors that are practiced in these dungeon- 
like cells; fortunately, they do not always suc- 
ceed. I am rejoiced when I read accounts of 
some bold Romeo, who seeks the balcony to 
which Cupid calls some lively girl to meet him. 
Then, as love grows strong, the Church grows 
weak, and her Romeo, Asmodeus-like, removes 
all barriers, and escapes with her to life and 
liberty, joy and love. The Church excommuni- 
cates and denies her Christian burial in con- 
secrated ground. But that does not count now. 
She is free both in mind and body, and devotes 



CONCLUSION. 333 



her life to the joys of love and home, as God 
intended she should. She again can appreciate 
the blessings of the world without having to 
confess to a priest and do painful penance for 
a supposed sin. To her love is sin no longer. 

The Church usurps the right of performing 
the only legitimate marriage ceremony that is 
recognized by God. All who do not confess and 
receive the blessing of the Church are illegiti- 
mate, and their children are bastards, and as, 
according to the Church, no bastard can enter 
into the kingdom of heaven, heaven, conse- 
quently, will be thinly populated, as most chil- 
dren commit an unpardonable sin for being 
born. Yet the priest will go into the cell of the 
condemned murderer, prepare him for heaven, 
and grant him absolution. This is too incon- 
sistent. The victim of the pardoned murderer 
did not have the benefit of a priest, and his soul 
is lost. Thus, the wrong man is sent to heaven. 
These ideas are explained away by the priest 
in an allegorical manner as being worldly; that 
only the ordained spiritually born can under- 
stand the ways of God. The Church and God 
do not abide by common reason, but by the 
spirit without reason. The Church has much 
to spiritually explain, but its explanations do 
not do away with the fact that God certainly 
deals with reason and the sciences, especially 



334 CONCLUSION. 



with the science of mathematics, when He regu- 
lated the planets in their regular revolutions. 
It is shown to us by the science of astronomy 
that civil engineering was thoroughly under- 
stood by the All- Wise Creator. Scientists, by 
studying the laws of nature, find them all com- 
patible with common sense. 

Again, the Church, or, rather, its ministry, 
from his Holiness the Pope down to the priests, 
the monks, and the friars, profess to despise 
riches and pomp, but it is plain to be seen from 
their actions and practice that it is a lie. 
There is nothing they will not stoop to to get 
money, from systematic beggary to murder and 
persecution. A priest cannot deny this since 
the history of the Inquisition and the Roman 
crusades to the south of France and Spain, 
with no object but plunder. If we find these 
very devout men not trustworthy with our 
goods, how can they be trusted with our 
morality and the salvation of our immortal 
souls, or become the keepers of our conscience? 
Let common sense answer. I have shown that 
the Romish Church has in every instance, when 
in power, abused its authority in the most im- 
moral, cruel, and disgraceful manner. 

It is not only a pleasure, but a relief, to cease 
to narrate the many cruel persecutions and 
other crimes committed by the perverted re- 



CONCLUSION. 335 



ligion founded by Jesus Christ, and turn to a 
consideration of the beautiful, simple, true, 
moral religion that he really founded. It is a 
task of real pleasure to go through the four 
books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and 
separate what we feel did really emanate from 
the Saviour from the miracles and other inter- 
polations. We feel intuitively his pure system 
to be the first effort at civilization and true di- 
vine religion the world ever had presented to 
it. It is firmly founded on truth that will 
stand forever. He was really and truly the 
savior of the world. His principles are firmly 
fixed in the hearts of all men who love mercy, 
justice, and good-will to their fellow-men. 
When appealed to, on all occasions his wisdom 
was such that his answers silenced all who heard 
him. He could not be provoked to anger. His 
nature was love in reality, and he felt kindly 
towards all. There never was, and never will 
be, a duplicate of his divine character. Love 
for him has ever been, and will ever be, in every 
good man's breast. 

To serve God as Christ taught is not at all 
a burden. We need no help. To just follow 
what he taught in his immortal Sermon on the 
Mount is sufficient. Live up to it, trust in God, 
and fear nothing but to do wrong. In no in- 
stance did Christ speak of God in any manner 



336 CONCLUSION. 



than as a loving father, to be adored, not 
feared, as if he were a tyrant or demon. His 
life and mission were, by persuasion and pre- 
cept, to lead men from the evil ways of the pre- 
vailing false ideas of offering sacrifice of ani- 
mals to God for the remission of their sins, to 
a true, rational, moral religion. In reality, 
Christ was a reformer, but the reformation was 
directed to truth and morality. He avoided 
politics, and resisted all attempts to lead him 
to express himself politically, that he might be 
betrayed by designing hypocrites. His answer, 
when presented with the Roman coin, is an ad- 
mirable instance. He calls their attention to 
Caesar's image on the coin, and said, "Render 
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." This 
is far from the practice of the priests and 
preachers of any period since. They are con- 
tinually insinuating themselves into matters of 
state. This is so in the United States, though 
religion is not mentioned in the Constitution. 
Christ was invariably eloquent in his man- 
ner of speech. Simplicity was proverbial with 
him, and arrogance was foreign to his nature. 
He expressed himself in few words, but they 
were forcible as well as unanswerable. He 
censured deception, pomp, outward show, and 
vanity, which are reversed by the Church in 
modern practice. It is very strange how much 



CONCLUSION. 337 



the belief in ghosts of persons who have died 
has been lost during the past fifty years. It is 
probably owing to the gradual improvement in 
knowledge, and, as a consequence, less super- 
stition among the people, even when it is most 
blended with religion. The same delusion 
caused the belief in miracles and of Popish 
saints, which did away with the intervention of 
reason and was to the interest of priests to 
promote. Ghosts were frequent apparitions that 
haunted the minds of the ignorant and super- 
stitious during the dark and gloomy nights. I 
never heard of one making its appearance in 
the daytime. During the last twenty years 
they have ceased to trouble even the most 
credulous. 

We have only one life to live, so let us enjoy 
it the best we possibly can, and help others to 
be happy with us. 

Modern civilization, we may believe, began 
with the independence of the United States of 
America, when they adopted a Constitution 
distinct from the Church. That Constitution is 
based on cultivated morals, intellect, science, 
and political liberty of the highest degree. We 
live assured, under it, of our political and re- 
ligious liberty. We consciously feel there is 
always an overruling Providence to guide us 
spiritually to virtue, to honor, to charity, to 



338 CONCLUSION. 



humanity, to industry. But we claim what no 
other nation before us did— that is, a rule of 
individual conscience untrammeled by any hu- 
man intervention, such as creeds or religious 
opinions of different sects, from all of which 
we are independent. We agree to live in har- 
mony with our fellow-man, though he may have 
different opinions to ours. 

Let us look back at the attempt of other 
times to formulate and perpetuate popular 
democratic republican governments: 

In the republic of Athens the people were 
cultivated intellectually and morally. They es- 
tablished an empire. Eome, likewise, by virtue, 
carried republican principles over the whole of 
the then known world; but, when a different 
religion was introduced, it became divided, and 
imperial tyranny was established. Then it be- 
gan to decline, and went to pieces. This was 
for deviating from the principles that had been 
founded on truth. 

Take the French, that noble race, who began 
to lead the way to modern civilization. For 
about three generations they found it impossi- 
ble to cling together in any kind of civil form 
of government. In that time they had two em- 
pires and three republics. They dethroned 
three kings and abolished quite a number of 
constitutions. This was done by a people which 



CONCLUSION. 339 



was refined and cultivated in science and art. 
This was because of the religions of the 1 rulers, 
whose reason and conscience were in control of 
a meddlesome Pope. As soon as they abolished 
the influence of this power over the people, they 
had peace and prosperity. 

Take Russia, and we And, from the same 
cause, they are almost in a state of anarchy. 
Even England, for two centuries, had to re- 
form, time after time, on account of religious 
dissensions among the people. 

Thus, a civilization without religion is the 
most perfect. Therefore, eliminate religion from 
the constitution, and have an intellectual, 
moral, and political government which will be 
permanent. 

Jesus Christ meddled not with politics. He 
took no interest in, but ignored, the political 
opinions of men. Why, then, do those who pre- 
tend to be followers of Christ meddle with the 
affairs of government ? In doing so they de- 
part as far as possible from the true Deist and 
Son of God. Jesus dealt only with things of 
God. He felt that he was always with God. 
He drew from his heart what he said of the 
Father. He lived, as it were, in the bosom of 
God by continual communication. He did not 
claim to have seen Him, but understood Him 
without the need of burning bushes or any 



340 CONCLUSION. 



oracle, familiar genius, or the Angel Gabriel. 
Like Mahomet, Jesus never once announced 
that he was God, or infinite, but he honestly be- 
lieved that he was in direct communication with 
God. He believed himself the son of God. He 
had the highest consciousness of God that ever 
existed in the breast of man. He was not a 
speculative philosopher, like many theologians. 
He had only one conception of God, and that 
was the Father. This was the whole theology 
of Jesus. He used no argument to substantiate 
his theology. He felt as if he knew God was 
within himself. He did not preach opinions, 
but, instead, preached himself. He had an ex- 
alted personality that did not admit of ques- 
tion. He had no fear of imposing himself on 
others. He cared nothing for the opinion of 
others. His God was no despot, who kills when 
He pleases, damns when He pleases, and saves 
when He pleases, but a true merciful Father 
to all. 

Jesus had no political aspirations. When the 
people of Galilee wished to make him a king 
he ran away and hid for some time in a moun- 
tain. His soul 's desire was not a political 
revolution, but strictly a moral revolution. 
Upon this idea he has founded the most beauti- 
ful, moral teaching that the world has ever 
received, and which will last forever. 



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